Hard Contact
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: Pluton. A weapon of mass destruction. Capable of laying waste to entire civilizations, its existence was sealed by the World Government lest news of its existence leak to the public. Now, that day is here. Pluton is REAL! Its key, alive and well. But will its existence help or hinder the Strawhats in the battles to come? One can only wonder... NarutoxHarem!
1. Creation

**A/N: This is what comes from obsesssing over One Piece too much! I go crazy with conspiracy theories! This ficlet is a byproduct of a challenge that I might have heard of a while back, but no worries, in case any of you haven't noticed, I'm updating regularly now and NONE of my stories are abandoned! Updates for ALL of them are on the way, as I have demonstrated with Prince of Darkness and Nakama! Oh, and for any of ye who wonder, this takes place shortly as in, just after the Alabasta Arc!**

_Creation_

He leapt, long and high.

Lightning split the sky into a thousand pieces. Thunder boomed. Far below, and all around, the sea raged. The rain and wind scoured him clean. He opened his mouth and felt moisture on his tongue for the first time in what felt like a century. After so long in the pit, it tasted like freedom itself. He swallowed, gulping down the water; lapping up that sweet and bitter H20 as a massive wave clapped him across his body and left him deafened.

He had meant to hit the ground running, but fate had other plans.

Instead, he hit the deck with a harsh, metallic thump. Unable to support the weight inflicted upon it, the rotten timber gave way, leaving him to tumble to his doom. In a heap of yellow, red and black, he fumbled to his feet, heedless of the many splinters protuding from his back. Wounds were irrelevant. _Pointless._ He needed to keep running. Surely his pursuers hadn't given up the chase; not after all they'd gone through to capture him.

Why was that again?

He winced, the letters on his arm throbbing in painful protest with every step. They'd been branded into his arm during his brief stay in the government facility. He didn't want to look at them. Didn't want to acknowledge what he already knew to be the truth. Even so, his inborn curiousity eventually betrayed him. He stole a brief glance for the wound; warily eyeing the black letters that still pusled an angry, throbbing shade of crimson.

_**PLUTON.**_

His earliest given memory was of having those runes carved into his flesh. A hellish experiment that left him reeling, devoid of any memory of his past life or existence. Power thrummed in and out of his body; bottled up, begging for release. He clung to the one thing he did remember, and that was his name. Knowing it gave him little comfor in the end however; because he'd long since given up trying to claw out this hellish tattoo.

_'Where am I?'_

It burned as he ran, this name that was carved into his flesh, that bespoke of silent and nameless destruction. He hadn't the foggiest of what pluton was, nor what significance the name bore for his pursuers. He knew only that he had awoken to find himself unbound for the first time since his captivity. For the very first time since the experiment had first begun, the slighest sliver of light,_ of freedom,_ had been offered to him.

Needless to say, he'd taken it and run with it.

_'Who am I?'_

And still he ran.

_'What am I?'_

Raw and bleeding, his feet drummed against the ground.

_'WHAT IN THE HELL AM I ?'_

The pounding beat of his stride originated in his heels and ran up his legs, through his hips, and along his spine until it terminated at the base of his skull, where the recurring impact jarred his teeth and exacerbated the headache that seemed to worsen with every passing step. He couldn't hear the sound of her pursuers any longer; the thunder was all but deafening in his ears, drowning out all else.

He kept running.

He had to get out to sea. He had to get out to sea and then...and then what? Steal a boat? Escape? Despite his complete and utter lack of memory, he somehow knew that he had no skills in navigation. How it was that he knew _that,_ remained to be seen. He could swim, right? Couldn't he? Despite the vauge feeling of nausea at the thought of trying to swim to freedom, he hastened to renew his pace.

_"Hold it right there, Uzumaki Naruto!"_

The name struck a chord somewhere deep within him. He tripped; stumbled, his pace lessening for a hairsbreadth of an instant. Somehow that name, _his name,_ held some manner of thrall over him. Who's voice was that? A woman? Yes, the voice most certainly belonged to that of a detected the faintest tint of pink when something began to stir deep within the undergrowth. Who could it be?

He didn't wait to find out.

He flung himself forward anew, barreling back into the forest, making for the coastline. At least, he hoped that was the coastline. He could have been running in circles for all he knew, but aything was better than standing still. He held no desire to return to that hellish pit. Just the thought of it sent a raw surge of sheer terror down his spine. No, if it came to that, he'd sooner commit sepuku! Anything, anything! He'd do anything if it meant he didn't have to go back to that hell!

Then he smacked into something.

"W-What in the hell...!"

Something hard.

"Greetings." A soft voice boomed above him. "Naruto."

The lad known simply as "Naruto" clamored backwards, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

"W-Who in the hell are you? How do you know my name...?"

The man was large, of that much he was certain. He was a great, hulking shadow in the night, his face illuminated only briefly by the light of the storm. As a jagged streak of violet crackled across the clouds, he received a brief glimpst into the shadows of that face. Huling over him amidst the branches a square jaw bellied a body that was as large as it was wide.

"Answer me!"

He held a bible in one arm, and began pulling off a glove with the other. Naruto had the briefest glimpse of a strange, pad-like apparatus embedded into the man's palm. Now, he realized his peril. He didn't know this man, but for some reason, the very sight of him filled his soul with dread. The tattoo on his arm shrieked in protest as he scrabbled a pace southward, his hands clawed furtively against the ground; feebly trying to find some semblance of purchase so that might be able to escape this newest obstacle.

A dull _whump_ echoed just outside his vision. Then the strangest of events occurred.

His hand inexplicably closed around a piece of fruit and stayed there. No more than a hairsbreadth later, he tripped, coming down on the offending piece of fruit that had been shoved at him; mouth first. On some raw instinct he swallowed. It proved to be the best decision of his life, though he would have no way of knowing it at the time. Suddenly, his body refused to respond at all, even in the slightest.

"What...is...this...

"A gift." The voice of the bear man came from behind him. "You've just been force fed the _Chikyū Chikyū no mi._ Be grateful to me for my assistance, _welp."_ Naruto snarled, his eyes flying wide at the age old insult. But the hulking gargantuan no longer stood behind him, and the sudden motion drained what little energy he had left. His stomach gurgled but once, then he was forced to bend double as his body ultimately betrayed him for the fifth and final time.

**"!"**

Scarce had he taken two steps than that black jacket and white bullseye swelled before his vision once more. Something crackled across his face and sent him sprawling. By the time his body agreed to obey him again, the bear-man loomed over him, his hand at the ready. Naruto broke out in a cold sweat and screamed at himself to move but it was useless; utterly futile. He made it to his elbows; just before the eerily familair assailant spoke to him.

"If you were to go on a trip...where would you like to go?" The bear-like man asked. "Uzumaki Naruto?"

"What the fuck?"

Naruto paused, momentarily struck by the incredulity of it all. Before he could hope to form some semblance of an answer the sound of crashing and cracking stormed through the forest. They'd found him. His day was done. He was going to be dragged back to that pit and they were going to continue embedding those foul and perverse things into his veins and...and...and...

_ Damn it all to hell! _

"A-Anywhere but here!" he rasped aloud. "Anywhere!" The words took the last of his strength from him. At that very moment, several men armed with heavy artillery burst in and out of the clearing, leveling dozens of barrels and sightnings upon the blond. The rain was all but blinding now, but in the harsh glare of their spotlights, the grove was lit as bright as daylight.

"As long as there's plenty of land, and lots of hospitable people!" Naruto added hastily, wondering why on earth he'd thought of that last part. And why was it that the strange bear-like man was smiling, just now, even as Marines and Government officials stormed into the clearing?

"Shichibukai Kuma has apprehended the weapon!" One of them shouted! "Quickly! Prepare the tranquilizers! Before it goes berserk again!" But Naruto was no longer focused on the mention of his impending fate. Rather, his mind was unfocused, the world swimming through his eyes as his body was wracked with convulsions. _Blast it all_! He didn't understand any of this! What was a Shichibukai? Who was Kuma...Bartholomew Kuma?

_**Kuma!**_

Kuma? The seventeen year old froze in mid-breath as a flood of memories assaulted him at the thought. Images of a lab, of an operating table, of wires, needles and various machine parts flickered through his vision in a dizzying haze of blues and greens that left him more than a little disoriented. What in the hell? He clutched at his head as yet another migraine assaulted him; his world fading to black at the edges as white spots speckled before his vision.

_"Very well." _

Naruto had just enough sense to jerk his head upward. The guns fired in unison, and at that very instant, just before the nedles could send him back into oblivion. A pawprint filled his vision and then there was only blackness. He felt like he was flying through space for the briefest of instants, then his head collided with something harsh and entirely unyielding, something that shattered as he shot past it and into what felt like utter oblivion.

Then he sank into true blackness for what felt like an eternity.

**A/N: Hurrah for Kuma! But where, or where will Naruto land (HINT HINT Alabasta WINK WINK) Anyway, someone mentioned this idea to me by chance, and, well, since we know next to little or nothing of Pluton (or its twin, Poseidon) I figured, hey, why not? What if Pluton was a person? Or at the very least, a massive weapon of ungodly destruction that was fused with the shell of a man and thought to be human? I hope you all like this original idea, Sorry if any of you are confused! Please review! Reviews speed my recovery and the updates of My Pride is a Hurricane, which will be following soon and forthwith!**

**_Chikyū Chikyū no mi=Earth Element=LOGIA!_**

** Oh, and remember...NO CANCER FOR ME! YOHOHOHOHO!**


	2. Discovery

**A/N: This is what comes from obsesssing over One Piece too much! I go crazy with conspiracy theories! This ficlet is a byproduct of a challenge that I might have heard of a while back, but no worries, in case any of you haven't noticed, I'm updating regularly now and NONE of my stories are abandoned! Updates for ALL of them are on the way, as I have demonstrated with Prince of Darkness and Nakama! Oh, and for any of ye who wonder, this takes place shortly as in, just after the Alabasta Arc!**

**A/N: (Continued) Someone mentioned this idea to me by chance, and, well, since we know little or nothing of Pluton (or its twin, Poseidon) I figured, hey, why not? What if Pluton was a person? Or at the very least, a massive weapon of ungodly destruction that was fused with the shell of a man and thought to be human? I hope you all like this original idea, Sorry if any of you are confused! Please review! Reviews speed my recovery and the updates of My Pride is a Hurricane, which will be following soon and forthwith!**

** Oh, and remember...NO CANCER FOR ME! YOHOHOHOHO!**

**_I suspect I might die for asking this question too many times...but won't you please review? Then again I'm a skeleton so I'm already dead! YOHOHOHOHOHO SKULL JOOOOOOOKE!_**

_Discovery_

It was early fall and the heat was searing. He squinted into bright sun as the dust devils swirled about him, kicking up little puffs as he jolted toward the ground. He closed his eyes at the very last instant and braced himself for the inevitable pain; the jolting agony of the incoming impact. Having awoken earlier to find himself airborne was nothing as he compared it to just how rough his landing was about to be.

**"Such insolence."**

Something cracked across his face and sent him sprawling.

It was the earth.

He slapped into the ground hard, his broken body flipping over as he skidded onto his back. He bounced; one, two, three, four times, before the momentum of his impact drove him back to earth. His head kissed an iron-hard root, made all the worse by the thickness of his skull. Black spots swam before his eyes and left him blinded. He tried to stand; and a broken rib all but drove the breath from his his lungs.

_Up, damn you! Get up!_ Swearing and spitting he got on his hands and knees and _tried_ to stand, eyes watering, ears ringing. Pushing his hands against the gravely and granite soil, he'd made it all of halfway, a half-assed oath leaving his lips before the shadow fell upon him; before he raised his gaze and realized what exactly he was looking at. He'd landed in a strange paw-shaped crater, and he ached everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Unable to sustain the effort required to stand, he fliped onto his back, all semblance of calm deserting him as gazed up into the blazing sun of the desert.

This field he'd landed in should have been bursting with wheat ready to be harvested. Instead, it was severe and dry. Almost as if the life itself had been sapped from the soil. It was an eerie, time consuming thought, and one he could not afford to entertain. The clouds where gathering in overhead; a sandstorm of sorts must be coming. He tried to stand; tried to force his body into some semblance of movement, in hopes of finding shelter before he was struck by the full brunt of blast.

To say that he failed miserably would have been a massive understatment.

He blinked, driving a bead of sweat from his eyes. He could feel the grains of sand at his back, intermingled with the scent of fire, the unamused and smoldering irises of heat and hell itself, come to claim his life. Hot. It was just too damn hot. What was the point in getting up? _Precisely._ There was no point. Best just to lay; to perish, and let all and any trace of his existence be swept away from the world.

_Plink._

Or so he'd hoped.

_Plink._

Wearily, he creaked an eye open. A droplet of moisture struck his nose, eliciting a slow series of blinks as his bleary mind struggled to comprehend it. Then another. And still another. Rain, he realized. There would be no sandstorm; because it was raining. Just as it had been back on the island. He tasted it on his tongue and chuckled; it was a deep, throaty sound, one that confirmed his fear that he'd broken something during his self-induced tumble.

Perhaps his luck_-whatever it was-_had begun to take a turn for the better.

_"Good heavens!"_

With the last of his strength, Naruto bid his eyes be open once more.

"Wha-?"

It was a girl. Late teens at the most. Long hair swirled darkly about her face. Sweat glistened on her skin_-perhaps it was rain-_and her features were twisted into a sentiment he didn't recognize, not at first. Pity, mayhaps? No, that wasn't quite it. He couldn't find words for the anxiety in her face, but, if he could, he would've named it a close kin to concern. Ah, that was it, then. Ponderously, he both realized and recognized the sentiment.

_Concern._

Someone was whisper-no, speaking to him. Hands were shaking his shoulders, defying the blackness that crept in around the edges of his vision. A voice kept calling out too; jarring his senses and refusing to allow his death; lest he sink into that great and terrible abyss alone. _Alone._ He'd always been alone, hadn't he? Prior to his awakenin Naruto wasn't entirely certain if he'd had any friends; let alone someone who would profess intense concern for his physical being.

It was...a strange sensation.

For want of anything but that, he suddenly found himself capable of breathing again. _Strange._ Hadn't he had a broken rib not five minutes before? Really, hadn't he? She was holding him. He could smell her. Not her precisely; rather, the silky sweet scent of her perfume, as it seeped into his nostrils. It was not an unpleasant aroma. When next his eyes did open, he could see her _right there,_ so close to him, that she almost seemed a part of him.

Dimly, he became aware of one key fact.

_'I know her.'_ Some small snippet of memory pricked him just them; flooding him with a myriad of sights and sounds so intense that he nearly closed his eyes against them. In his mind, somehow, he knew this girl. He knew not her name, nor her place of her birth, nor even her dreams and aspirations. Somehow, he just knew. Her face burned within the back of his mind; stoking the flickering embers of his heart.

Her eyes were closed and her face was wet, too, although perhaps not from only the rain. Was that a memory of the past, or perhaps the present? Eventually, besieged by the visions, he settled upon the latter. _Who are you,_ he mused silently,_ and why are you crying on my behalf?_ Surely these tears were not for his sake? His face burned thrice with shame at such an implication.

_"You..._

He reached up and touched her cheek, felt her start and almost pull away.

Their eyes met.

"I...know you." He choked out; it was a raspy, weezing sound.

"Can you stand?" Her face betrayed nothing but the latter; abject fear, anxiety for his well-being. For a moment, she looked as if she might say more, but those alabaster blue eyes ultimately betrayed her, even as she pursed her lips. Strands of cerulean hair tickled at his nose_-stirring the faintest sense of nostalgia-_and he gratefully accepted her aid despite the sudden sense of vertigo he experienced.

_'Who are you?'_

Weightless, impossible, miraculous-no, there were no words for how he felt in that instant. She pulled him upright; forcing him into a sitting position. His headache protested; naturally, his body was against being moved so suddenly, so swiftly. He took that opportunity to take in his surroundings. He had not, in fact, landed in a field, as he had first surmised. There were buildings here, the pockmarked signs of battle scattered about the streets.

Streets?

Countless men_-some in uniform and others not-_stood amidst the rain. Even as he looked on, the weapons fell from their hands. Each and every one of them stare upward well beyond the range of human eyesight, and spread their arms wide. They were tasting the rain, he realized. Some great battle had been fought here in the plaza as a spattering of bodies and of blood would indicate; but that battle was over.

_'What the hell is going on?' _

His felt his world was coming apart at the seams.

Countless facts illuminated his mind in response to this one, inadmissable query. Like a river of endless information, they streamed past him, invisible strands of knowledge, of data, waiting to be plucked. It felt as though his brain had been crammed full of an encyclopedia of information; and now his body was paying the price. Black spots speckled his vision once again, blotting out his world with a swift and merciless stride.

**"You _incompetent_ fleshling."**

Naruto tensed, his skull flaring in unison with the next migraine. Something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. He bent double and clutched at his temples; because suddenly the pain was all but exrcuciating. It felt as if a giant had just clapped two hands over the length of his body. A great and terrible prescence loomed over him, its words passing through his skull as though he were made of paper.

"What in kami's name?" Naruto whispered.

The girl _was_ speaking to him; but all the colors and sounds of that world had been irrevocably muted. And as he looked on, that reality faded altogether. In place of it he stood before the bars to a great cage, inscribed with the very tatoo which he so shamefully bore. Just by looking at it, that blatant and disgraceful mark, he had the sudden desire to cover it up, or erase it completely.

**"You disgrace the name of Pluton."** Once again, the monotone voice snarled through his ears, spitting at him from within the depths of the cage. **_"You,_ a mere shell of your former self, dare to shun _me?"_** His right arm ached and throbbed where the brand had been placed. He felt the power again, bulging, swelling, dying and stretching to get out, to escape the confines of its prison.

"I don't know who _you_ are." Incredulous, Naruto found himself speaking to the creature that wrapped itself in the shadows of the cell. "And besides," He added sullently, "I've enough voices in my head as it is _without_ a dispossesed voice telling me what to do." This remark, though unintended, seemed to strike a chord of sorts with the creature. In the blink of an eye it had reared backwards; jamming a massive paw through the cells of its cage.

**"Impudent pup!"** It boomed! **"You would do well to fear me, after all this time!"**

"Yeah about that...I don't even know you." Naruto deadpanned. "I take it...I'm supposed to know you, then?"

**"You've forgotten." **The voice echoed with a great and terribly clarity; and an air of finality**. "Haven't you?"**

_"What?"_

An unamused snort wormed its way through the cavernous halls of rock and gravel.

"Forgotten what?" Naruto cursed himself for his weakness; a pleading tone had entered his voice. "Do you know why I can't remember anything other than my name?" But if it was answeres he sought, then the eerie ghoul residing in the darkest reccesses of his mind was none too accomadating. It chuckled; a cruel, thorn filled laughter tinged to the sound of squelching blood.

**"I see no reason to imbue you with my knowledge."**

"Damn you!" Naruto swore. "Just what the hell are you!"

In short, it took little amusement from his lack of understanding.

**"First you forget the past, then you forget the girl, and now..._this?"_** The voice, wherever it came from, sounded incredulous. **"Incompetence! Don't bother looking for me you twit,"** And here the gnashing of teeth filled his mind,** "I'm speaking to you from beyond the barriers of your own imagination." **Confusion was met with a droplet of blood that leaked from his nose as the gravid entity interrupted him yet again.

**"YOUR MIND!" **It yowled aloud.

Naruto cringed.

**"Your mind!"** The letters engraved into his arm seemed to pulse with an otherwordly glow. **"I'm using the link between us to speak with you through telepathy, you twit! And speaking of mind, you'd musn't tarry."** Before Naruto could even form the question, he found himself berated yet again.** "Do you honestly think that you're safe here? FOOL! Never lower your guard, especially in the prescence of that woman! Your psyche is fragile enough with the two of us as it is! If you were to suffer a shock such as that-**

"What in blazes are you talking about?" Naruto could feel his ears beginning to ring. The voice was leaving him with more questions than answers. And what was this voice? Did it symbolize an alter ego? Another side of the same coin; a persona that dwelled deep within the blackest pits of his most private, innermost thoughts? He scarcely knew what to make of the sudden revelation, that he just might not be alone_-or safe for that matter-_inside his own head.

**"Ah, I've seen that face many a time before. You aren't going to heed my warning and abandon this quest, are you?" **At first, it_-the voice-_souned almost hopeful; at least n the beginning. But as time stretched on, as it neared the end of its sentence, the voice dropped into a guttural growl. Its words became edged with disgust, disdain, and dissapointment.

**"Very well." **It scoffed.** "See for yourself then, little fledgling. She'll betray you, just like the rest."**

A trickle of outrage wormed its way into the creature's tone when it beheld the expression of the one who bound it. The little one's face had pursed in an expression that stank of defiance and outrage. It reeked of uneccessary emotion and stubborn stupidity. Behind the bars, the creature reared back; so that it might better inspect this body who did not waiver as the rest had; who refused to falter under its penetrating glare.

**"So boy, what will you do now, now that you've escaped the island and made contact with your past?" **It asked.** "What is your purpose?"**

Naruto blinked, struggling to come to terms.

"My...purpose?"

**"Yes, your purpose!"** The disembodied voice snapped back. **"Your drive! Your ambition! Your goal! Why is it that you _survived_ when all the others perished? That you thrived, excelled even, when you were expected to fail? What is it that drives you so, what is it that makes you _want_ to live when the world istelf would see you dead, or worse, a weapon aimed at their enemies? I demand that you tell me this instant!"**

Naruto blinked, frowned, then blinked again.

"My...purpose...

Talk about putting the cart before the horse. His memories were vague; they were fractured, indistinct at best. They slipped through his fingers like water whenever he tried to grasp them; always there, but never solid enough for him to gain a successful purchase. Fury built within him at the thought; that he might never truly know who he was, who'd been, or whomever he might become.

Ultimately, these thoughts settled on the one truth he _did_ know.

"I want to be free." Despite his lack of knowledge about the world-and himself-he knew in his heart that this was true. Deep down, deep down in the deepedst darkest corner of his mind, he knew this to be true. Freedome. The right-no, the privelige, to do as he pleased. Really, was that too much to ask? Naruto didn't think so. Was not freedom the undeniable right of every man that roamed the earth?

Of course it was!

**"So you choose freedom, then?"** The disembodied voice laughed; it was a hoarse, dry cough. **"Ha! Long has it been since I've heard those words from your lips! I think we're going to get along just fine, you and I." It paused, stretching the silence into eternity. "I suppose I should impart you with some of my wisdom, after all-**

Abruptly, their surroundings began to dim.

**"Argh, my power is spent!" **The red-eyed creature lamented.** "Come here, boy." **It wedged a claw through the bars of its prison; not enough to reach him, just enough to beckon. Despite himself, Naruto took a small, limping step forward. The claw receded, sinking back into the shadows of the dark as he approached. And then he found himself before the bars, peering into the murky gloom that shrouded the prison and its prisoner.

It was as if he were staring at a watercolour painting; the colours of the world beginning to melt, blurring in the area that surrounded the cage. Transfixed, he gawped at them and the strange tapestry, utterly oblivious to the rising water at his feet. By the time it had reached his calves, he stood less than a foot away from the bars. Standing so close he could make out the _faintest_ of silhouettes just beyond the iron curtain that separated them.

_**"Closer."**_ It hissed, sounding suddenly so strange.

He complied.

**"Let me see your face."** The voice commanded, softly, deadly, lacking the venom it had posessed prior to their discussion. **"Let me look upon you with my own eyes."** What it meant by that he would never know. Everything happened so fast. One moment he stood across from the cage. The next, he was within arms reach. Only then as he took that last, fateful step forward, did Uzumaki Naruto realize his peril.

**"Ah,"** The blurred voice of a woman_-how did he know that it was a woman-_gasped. **"It's been so long...I'd nearly forgotten what you looked like."**

_"Nani?"_

A pair of hands scraped through the bars and found the lapels of his jacket. He grunted; because suddenly he was being hauled forward, pressed against the searing irons that held the voice captive, just beyond his reach. Almond eyes of burning scarlet nictitated to life; looming above a pair of pale and pursed lips. They splayed up against him for a brief moment; hesitant, wavering, tracing delicate circles against the rippling muscles of his chest.

For a time, nothing seemed to happen.

He struggled to draw breath, but nothing would come. A strange moisture stung at his eyes-tears-but knew not why. Some part of him, some small, infinitismal portion of his personality yearned for her touch; for the scent of her perfume and the embrace now offered to him so freely. It tore open a hole in his heart. Who was she, this woman, that his body recalled and yet his mind could not?

"Who are you?"

The shadow hid her face. Thunder and lightning danced through the grief stricken sky as she raised her gaze to meet his. She was both terrible and beautiful to behold. Death and suffering followed her as her stewards. Her tails_-nine of them_-drew a third of the armies sent against her to hell and those that remained were nothing more than a great feast for vultures. She was the one for whom darkness was created...she held the soul of the enemy of all living things. She was...

_Something lost._ His head throbbed in a moment of raw, piercing clarity._ Something that has been forgotten. _And still the water rose, reaching his chest. The figure beyond the shadows cringed; fisting delicate fingers against with his for the span of two beats. She made as if to pull away, then, but he would have none of that. But neither would she; because she drew _back_ from him when he drew near.

"You're...

**"Stop."** She spoke; it was a soft, delicate whisper. **"Don't say it!"**

Naruto took one limping step toward the cage, and then, just like that, the vision was gone. The world faded to black. The water swept past his head and swept him inward; a flailing heap of arms and legs that found itself hauled into the cage by the current. He experienced the faintest touch on his cheek, then something sent his mind hurtling back toward the surface, and to conciousness...

A dull roar filled his ears as wamr light exploded across his eyes...

**0o0o0**

In a bland white room, Uzumaki Naruto stirred.

He awoke to warmth of white sheets and the sound of snorting. Sunlight splayed across his face, leaking through the window. Naruto blinked, brushing back the blankets that lay scattered about the bed. His eyes widened all too explosively at the sight that greeted him. Sprawled out across the floor, with naught but the hardened to greet her body, lay the girl he'd met in the square.

She had laid herself halfway across his bedside, having fallen asleep with her knees ont he ground, but her arms and head nestled firmly against the bed. Naruto blinked away the cobwebs from his eyes and forced himself into a sitting position. Absentmindedly, he noticed that he'd been rather heavily bandaged. _Cute._ Wait, what the hell? He wasn't thinking of the bandages, rather, his attention was fixated upon the sleeping beauty at his bedside.

This must be her home, he mused.

He could hear the faintest commotion coming from just beyond his door. It would appear that she, whomever she was, had guests. Though part of him yearned to stretch out his hand and touch her face, he resisted the strange impulse. Instead, he reached for the sheets beneath him, and tore a thin strand of fabric away from the comforter. First, and foremost, he wanted to cover up this blasted tattoo on his arm.

_Damn but she was a light sleeper.._

...you're awake!"

Naruto froze.

The girl_-he still couldn't recall her name-_was staring. Not only at him, her attention was fixed pointedly upon the metallic engravings etched into his right arm. His tattoo. She was staring at it as if it were either the most fascinating thing in the world, or the devil itself. He forced himself to swallow, lest she find some flaw in his expression that could be used to further exploit his sudden weakness.

"Are you feeling any better?" She asked, lightly. "Are your wounds causing you any pain?"

"N-No." He managed, though he couldn't keep the flush from his face. "I'm...fine. Thank you for your assistance, miss...?"

_"VIVI!"_

The name all but shattered against his ears.

Naruto swung around, his legs scissoring out from underneath him as the door was inexplicably smote inward, almost as if someone had forcibly kicked it down. Indeed, some one had taken the opportunity to veritably burst into the room. Barging in directly behind the shattered frame came a young boy wearing a loose fitting tunic and a strawhat, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Interestingly enough, he was speaking around a mouthful of fruit. Amazingly, he swallowed it all in one bite, and his stomach immediately gurgled for more. For a moment, it was an almost pitiable sound. Apparently this was not the case for the starving boy with the hat of straw. He rubbed at his stomach for a moment, seemed to realize that this was not, in fact, the kitchen, and immediately recognized the girl sitting at Naruto's bed.

"VIVI!" The boy shouted! "Where's the kitchen! _I need food!"_

"L-Luffy-san!" Vivi blushed. "I-I didn't know you were awake!"

"Well of course I'm awake! How else would I be looking for the kitchen!"

Okay, time to leave.

"I...should be going."

Despite himself and the burning desire to say more, Naruto forced himself out of bed. Unfortunately, this both earned and aroused Luffy's curiousity. Now, Luffy, being Luffy, chose that very moment to notice the most distintive and obvious feature about the stranger in Vivi's bed. He was still trying to decipher it in fact, when the blond attempted to shoulder his way right on past the inquisitive youth.

"Whoa!"

Luffy, not-surprisingly, being made of rubber and what-not bounced right back. Not one to be so easily denied, he swiveled, turning his attention after the retreating blond; who seemed perfectly content to leave the two of them behind, despite lacking his shirt and jacket. He'd barely made it three paces before Vivi flung herself from the bed and gave chase for him.

"_Nanda?"_ The boy squinted at Naruto as he brushed past. "Who's this guy?"

Vivi flushed.

"A-Ano, Luffy-san, this is-

_"Plu-ton?"_ Peering at the engraving upon the blond's arm and shoulder, Luffy sounded out the word in confusion, and Naruto forced his fists to unclench. "Oi, blondie-ossan, is that your name?" Somehow, Naruto's body reacted. A small, imperceptible tremor raced up and down his spine. He shivered. Shuddered. Convulsed, at the very mention of a name that had forced him to run for his very life before arriving here.

Somehow, he just reacted.

Naruto flung his hands outward, revealing thin circular holes within them. Light began to swell within his palms, gathering, building up into a deafening thrum. Surprised by the lightshow though he might've been, he was all too aware of what his body was doing; modulating the amount of power. Within seconds, he cradled two specks of light in either palm.

"ITS NOT OSSAN!" Naruto wipped one such speck at the strawhat lad. "I'm only eighteen I'll have you know!" It swerved at the last second however, gracefully demolishing the very room the three of them had just exited. Naruto sweatdropped as the circular holes in his hands receded, leaving them normal, unprotected palms, just as they'd always been.

_'What the hell?'_

"Sugoi!" Luffy gawked openly at the gaping crater he'd only just occupied. Stars shone from his eyes and he practically seemed to shine from a massive overdose of extreme coolness exposure "A beeeaaaaaam!" He all but squealed!" That's it! Blondie-ossan! You're going to become my nakama!" Both Naruto and Vivi simultaneously facefaulted in the exact same instant, with the former making it to his feet first.

_"THE HELL I AM!"_

**A/N: I hope you all liked the mystery and intrigue, and the humor towards the very end! Oh, and did I mention Naruto's very body was modified, as he's, well, PLUTON? To be Introducing the Strawhat Pirates! Naruto past is somewhat revealed? And how on earth does he know Vivi? All these questions and more will be explained in the next chapter, so, stay tuned!**

**And, as promised, here is a brief sneak peek of the next chapter!**

**Preview:**

As if to confirm Nami's suspicions, Naruto and Robin caught each other's gaze, with the latter catching sight of the former's tattoo.

"This is...**!"**

An overpowering sensation of pressure bore down upon her like an invisible hand. She sensed something enormous nearby, silent in the dark, like a giant passing within arms reach. A gravid deadly prescence too huge to grant her notice. She glanced to Naruto and saw him grimace, fingertips pressed against his temples. A droplet of blood fell from his nose.

_It's him,_ she thought, amazed. _Even I can feel it...Pluton!_

**Until next time, Ja ne!**


	3. Curiosity Kills

**A/N: YOHO! Its been two long years since I've touched this story, but here I am again! I've made a pledge to update all my One Piece stories post haste, although I will admit, most of my focus has been on Prince of Darkness at the moment. Feel free to give it a read sometime! I've also changed the name of Naruto's fruit to the Iwa Iwa no mi. Less of a mouthful, ya know? I mean, he is earth and everything in this story, but its a helluva pain to say so much in one phrase, ya know? Also I'm not sure if I made it clear in the previous two chapters, but Naruto's body is pratically all but COVERED in the language of the Poneglyphs, sans his face.**

**...let the long awaited rebirth of this story begin! Onward with Hard Contact! **

_"Ano...Robin-san...why are you staring at me like that?"_

_~Naruto._

** Curiosity Kills**

_"What have I done to deserve this?!"_

These were the words of Uzumaki Naruto as the Strawhat Piarates left Alabasta in their wake; with him aboard the Going Merry! He lay there, slumped over the rail and groaned, bemoaning this cruel twist of fate that'd first forced him from the lap of luxury to the life of a wanted man. They'd already bade their goodbyes to Vivi and it was not without a small pang of regret that he watched the coastline grow smaller and smaller on the horizon.

_This wasn't how it was supposed to happen!_ his brain insisted. _This wasn't…_

Cannon fire still rumbled in the distance; the last of their navy pursuers were determined to capture them at any cost. The charigned blond couldn't have cared less whether or not they were chased; it still didn't change the fact he was now a _wanted_ man working with a _wanted_ crew of _wanted_ pirates! Did I mention he was wanted? Because he was! There was a _two hundred milllion berri bounty_ out on his head! He was a criminal! That alone was bad enough; but did they have to aim at him?!

"Oof!" Sudden and without warning, he lost his balance, flopping forward on his face.

Another cannoball sent a sea of spray across his face and with a sudden sting of pain-or lack thereof-the blond realized why he'd flopped forward.

_Gone._

His right arm was gone. That last cannonball had grazed him as it shot past, leaving the Merry miracously unharmed.

Naruto staggered back half a step backward, growling in disbelief. There was no blood. He was still getting used to that. His arm was already cominb back; rich loamy soil dribbling from his shoulder as the limb restored itself. As he looked on he could see his elbow, then his wrist, and finally his fingers, all were soon restored in perfect working order. The same could not be said of his temper. Bastards! If they wanted to play that game with him...

_"Then I'll send you straight to hell!"_ He drew breath and spat, flinging an expletitve over the rail in the same instant he leapt upon it. His mind dove beneath the depths of the ocean, reaching down, down, _down_ to that seabed below. The ground was there, miles deep. All he needed to do was pluck it out.

_"Douryuheki!"_

A wall of earth and sand rose from the sea floor to cover Merry's flank, intersecting a hail of cannon fire before they could reach the vessel. The suddeness of its emergence caused the seabead to quake dangerously; its sudden lack of balance nearly capsizing the Merry Go in one fell swoop of its arrival. But Naruto wasn't done. With a flick of his wrist the wall shattered, its remnants sharpening into shafts of hardened earth; deadly like the longest of spears. An errant thought sent them hurtling toward the marine ships, skewering the vessels like pincushions.

"Wah!" Usopp cried in shock and surprise as he steadied the helm to avoid the remnants of the wall crashing down around their ears. "Give us some warning next time!"

Naruto glared bloody red daggers at the Mugiwara's long-nosed liar.

"Would you rather deflect them youself?"

The sniper promptly reversed his stance.

"Yosh! Keep those cannonballs _faaaaar_ away from the ship, Naruto-dono!"

Naruto sweatdropped.

"Oi oi oi oi...

He'd begun to master the powers of the _Iwa Iwa no mi_ during his short time in Alabasta, much to his charign. He wasn't at all pleased to learn that he'd become a hammer in the water in addition to...well, whatever the hell he was supposed to be! The runes on his right arm began to burn as he raised a hand, fingers splayed. A small oval opened in his palm, light shining in its darkened depths. Admittedly these newfound powers of his were almost _worth_ losing his sea legs; the ability to swim was nothing compared to what he could do now!

_'Time for the finisher!'_

Luffy and Chopper-even Usopp was prone to the sudden lapse-promptly paused in defense of the ship, their eyes bulging, shining brighter than ay sun as a beam of light glinted from the blonde's outstretched palm. He held it there a moment longer, cradling the pinprick of brilliance betwixt and between his fingers. And then, he threw it, the bolt of destruction lancing towards one of the pursuing ships. There was a moment of dreadful silence as crossed the distance in the blink of an eye. At first nothing happened-

**BOOM.**

With an explosive retort that could be felt even here from the Merry the navy vessel burst into flames. Its sails smoldered, the mast crumbled, its hull catastrophically breached by the piercing power of the light. Naruto flexed his fingers twice more and the remaining vessels met a similair fate as their more and their crew joined the fishes beneath the sea. Naruto eyed the smoldering wrecks a moment longer, wanting to make certain of his success.

_"BEEEEEAAAAAAAAM~!"_

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were simultaneously cheering-the latter actually saluted!-his superhuman prowess. Naruto snickered. He could feel the mirth building in his heart; traveling into his chest, shooting up through his throat and tearing past his lips.

"Liked that, did ya?!"

The human weapon threw back his head and laughed; it was a deep, throaty sound. To hell with this! If he was going to be a wanted man, he ought to enjoy himself at the very least! He shot a wry grin at Luffy and the rubberman laughed back at him, lurching to his feet.

"Oi! Naruto!"

"Hmm?" The twenty-something blond blinked in surprise; that had been the first time the rubberman had actually called him by name. Strange. Until now it had almost always been 'Blondie' or something in that regard and effect. To actually be called by his name...it felt surprisingly good.

"You wanna be my nakama?"

A muscle jumped in Naruto's jaw, twitching alongside his right eyebrow. Luffy had asked him the same exact question nearly a thousand times back in the palace. Now he was asking again? He pretented to consider the answer a moment, then gave actual thought to his response. Alabasta was long behind them. It wasn't as if he could swim back either. And even if he did make it back-sans his ability to swim-the marines were there, a price placed on his head at their behest.

"Me?" He blinked, seriously considering it for the first time. "I-

Naruto was about to reply when the door to the galley swung open.

"Ara, so you're still here?"

Naruto tilted his head back to glance at the seventh and final member of their group. Nico Robin. _She_ had made it onto the Merry Go through less savory means; having been here from the very beginning. All she'd had to do was ask to join his crew, and wham! She was one of Luffy's nakama, despite eveyrone's initial protests. Nami had been won over with jewels, Chopper and Usopp with humour, and Sanji...well that one was nearly a lost cause from the beginning. Zoro was the last bastion who stood against her; because Naruto certainly wasn't! There was a mature charm about the tan woman that seemed to draw him in.

"He _is_ coming with us, I trust?" Her tone brooked no further discussion; Naruto had the sneaking suspicion everyone was about to agree with her. The earth man's gaze swept over everyone, taking in their expressions; ranging from confusion to outright delight.

"I don't see any problem with it." Nami offered her shoulders in a shrug.

"I agree with Nami-saaaan~!" Sanj loverboyed.

"Me too!" Chopper chirruped.

Zorro shrugged. "Well, he's already on the ship and I promised him lessons so...

"No objections!" came Usopp's chorus.

Robin offered a small smile of her own in the wake of the sniper's reply.

"Shouldn't we be asking him?"

All eyes turned to Naruto, as though the newcomer's opinion somehow mattered in the final vote. It was almost enough to make him laugh. And he would have, if he didn't feel so damned uncomfortable. He just wasn't accustomed to so much attention, and from so many people! He squirmed, struggling to quell the rising tide of emotion swelling within his chest. A sharp lance of agony stabbed through her frontal robe, bringing with it a sudden sense of euphoria.

He'd alwasy been alone, hadn't he?

That had been just fine with Naruto, once. He had given up on trying to find any friends or allies a while ago. He had come to accept the fact that he would always be alone. He really didn't mind it any more. He was so used to being lonely that he no longer noticed it, it had become a dull ache that was always there. A part of his life he had simply come to accept. He would live and die alone, that was just how it was. It was the price for being who he was, for being the best and the strongest. He would never lose. If that also meant he could never laugh or cry with anyone that was fine. It wasn't like he needed friends.

But now someone-Luffy!-was actually asking him to be their-his!-friend, and he didn't know what to make of it. His head continued to throb, the memories coming fast and furious; little more than a blur. He couldn't try to make sense of them, even if he wanted to. A lone tear spilled out of his left eye, surprising him. Naruto dabbed at it with his fingers, mildly alarmed by the sudden upswing of emotion.

"Ah, what the hell?" Naruto laughed, scrubbing at his face with the back of a hand. "Sure, Luffy. I'll be your nakama."

There was a silence. Then:

"YATTA!"

_"Gah!"_

Naruto yelped as the rubberman promptly threw his arms around him; he jumped straight up without thinking. The sudden lunge carried him away from Luffy as he'd intended, and then higher still. Much higher! All the way past the mast, past the crow's nest; he would've gone higher still had he not grabbed onto the rigging at the apex of his leap. Gasping, the blond flopped onto his back.

"Don't pounce on me so suddenly, baka yarou!" he barked with a laugh. "I almost jumped off the boat!"

"What are you, a monster or something?" Sanji exclamed up at him in mild disbelief. "Even _I_ can't jump that high!"

Naruto froze, his laughter cut painfully short. He released hold on the rigging, falling to the deck with an clumsy grace that belied his amnesia. He touched down roughly, woodenly, not taking enough care. To the cook's disbelief, he actually seemed _hurt. _Not in the physical sense_-how a made of earth could be injured was beyond him-_but by the expression he wore, Naruto had clearly been offended.

"W-What did you just call me?" His voice was a tiny, broken whisper.

Sanji blinked. Was the kid really that sensitive?

"Oi, Sanji!" Luffy whined, interrupting their dialouge with a scowl. "You can't call him that! You'll hurt his feelings!"

"All right, all right," Sanji replied through his teeth, exhaling "This guy _really_ pisses me off, anyway." He stepped forward – oblivious to the shadows of regret flickering across Naruto's face. Somehow, the term _monster_ did not sit well with him. He couldn't understand why. It just didn't.

Indeed he was a member of this crew-whether he liked it or not; having discovered his new infamy firsthand when he saw the wanted posters scattered about Alabasta...

...his own visage amongst them!

* * *

><p><em>(Flashback)<em>

_"...Naruto-san!" There was a silence as soft, feminine arms nudged him gently. "Naruto-san!" They pushed at him again, rousing him to wakefullness. "Wake up! You need to wake up!"_

_"...no."_

_"Naruto-san!"_

_Naruto bit back a half-hearted growl, his gaze fluttering open for must've been the upteenth time this evening. Oh cruel ordainer of fate...! Having tired of the feast he'd gone to bed earlier in the night only to be woken by Luffy. After witnessing his ability, the boy seemed hellbent on making him his nakama; he evidenced that much Naruto had promptly cuffed the boy on the head and gone to bed. Baka!_

_ Despite what Luffy said, he had no intention of becoming a pirate. He was content to stay here in Alabasta and recover. Here in the palace. Here with Vivi. She seemed rather nice, and he couldn't shake the feeling he somehow knew her. Now, he creaked open a blearly bloodshot iris to regard the very same princess trying to wake him._

_Her rich azure hair was slightly sleep-tousled as well; a silent reminder of the time she'd spent tending to him and his wounds earlier in the afternoon._

_"Ugh...whaddya want?"_

_Vivi held up a newspaper._

_"Read this!"_

_Naruto groaned and pulled the article from her fingers._

_She was holding what looked like an ordinary News Coo paper, but what really claimed their attention was the wanted poster that obscured its headline. It was normal size and shape…but several things about it made it stand out. For one, it showed a handsone young man– with ragged blond hair and blue eyes that glittered inte ntlyup at the camera. The picture had probably been taken from a rooftop, if the angle was anything to tell by. In the middle of a torrential downpour his figure was painfully apparent amongst a horde of marines – tattooed body, broad shoulders and a flat stomach, muscles more than toned – bare chest covered in those odd glyphs. His mouth was open in disbelief, lips frozen in a sibilant snarl whilst his hand lay hand poised, fingers clenched as if he were just preparing to strike the camerman down._

_The bounty read a two and eight zeroes. Two hundred million Berries. 200,000,000. But the most bizarre thing about the poster was that, under WANTED…the first two words in "Dead or Alive" had been crossed out for some strange reason, leaving only the letters A-L-I-V-E._

_And that the name on the poster was Uzumaki Naruto._

_Naruto choked. "…Current…!"_

_"We have to get you out of here!" Vivi was adamant. "Everyone!"_

_Scarce had she spoken than the door to Naruto's bedroom fell innard, spilling six strawhats into the bedroom._

_"Kono-!" Naruto barely resisted the urge to bury them beneath a mound of earth for eavesdropping. "How long have you guys been listening?!"_

_"Nevermind that!" __Vivi thrust the newspaper into the pile of tangled arms and legs; miraculously, it landed with the cover page upright. "Look at this!" Sanji was the first one to reach the paper; his curly eyebrow gave a slight twitch at what there was to read there._

_"Oi oi...look at this." _

_He showed them the paper._

_"**EEEEEEEEH?!**" the six Mugiwaras shrieked. But only five were in disbelief; Luffy looked positively ecstatic as he snatched the new wanted poster off the newspaper. "This is SO COOL!" the Strawhat captain crowed. He waved the battered bit of paper around like a victory flag, then grasped it with both hands to grin in all his toothy glory. "Two hundred million for the first time?! That's amazing!"_

_"NO, IT'S NOT!" the rest of his nakama yelled at him._

_Luffy pouted at them. "Why not?"_

_Usopp snatched the poster from him. "Luffy, don't you know that the higher a person's bounty is, the more the World Government views them as a threat to society?!"_

_"So?"_

_"HIS BOUNTY IS HIGHER THAN YOURS AND ZORO'S COMBINED!" The sharpshooter shoved the poster in his captain's face, poking the number pointedly as he screamed. "This is two. hundred. freakin'. million for some guy we don't even know, and its his first time! And this bloodthirsty picture?! The Navy might as well have written on it 'Bounty hunters, come and get me!' Ohhhh, what could he possibly have done to piss them off so bad…?" _

_"EH?!" Remarkably, that seemed to get Luffy's attention. "HIS BOUNTY IS HIGHER THAN OURS?!"_

_"That was my point, baka!" Usopp chopped their captain on the head._

_He peered closer, much to Naruto's charign._

_Uzumaki "Hard Contact" Naruto._

_His crimes? Illegally modifying himself-he had done no such thing!-stealing valuable goverment research-again, he hadn't done that!-alongside the cold-hearted murder of nearly one thousand marines during his escape from the island where he'd been held. Lies! All of them! Lies! He didn't remember any of it! The first and only thing he could recall was thus: he'd awoken to find himself strapped down, to an operating table, covered in these strange glyphs, the only one of which he could read bearing the name Pluton. His mind recoiled everytime he looked at it, as though it couldn't stand to contemplate notion._

_He'd broken his bonds and bolted, and that was how this had come to be..._

_...a life full of woe and misfortune!_

_(End Flashback)_

* * *

><p>"Hey, sea witch, are you sure this was a good idea, bringing him along?" Zoro muttered.<p>

Nami dealt the swordsman a fearsome blow.

"OW! What the hell was that for?"

"We've gone over this!" she hissed at him, crossing her arms and looking back at the newest-and quite possibly the most despondent-member of their crew. "Luffy wouldn't leave unless we brought him along! And you _saw_ how upset he was back there! We couldn't just leave him behind! Besides...

As if to confirm Nami's suspicions, Zorro caught sight of the most recent addition to their dysfunctional family, Nico Robin. Former assasin turned strawhat, the woman was doing her level best to comfort the now bereft blond, rubbing his back with a soothing hand whilst he sobbed over the railing.

"That shitty cook's being so mean to me, Robin-san...

"Gah!" Sanji gasped. _Clever little shit!_ "Robin-chwan! I didn't mean-

"Quiet." The archaelogist shushed. "You've hurt his feelings."

"But I-

She silenced him with a glare that could've melted solid steel and for a moment, Zorro actually felt _sorry_ for the shitty cook. Then he remembered all the hell said cook had put him through and he laughed. _'That's gotta be the first time I've seen a woman put him in his place.' _Sanji, for the most part, glowered at Naruto. If his fellow blond was faking any of the hurt he felt, then he was doing a damned good job of it. As Zoro looked on Sanji did the unthinkable. He actually stepped _toward_ the sulking sod and grabbed him by the collar.

"Oi, teme! You're faking_-mmph!"_

A pair of hands sprouted from the cook's neck and clamped over his mouth, rendering him mute.

Like an iron trap, Robin's gaze locked onto the cook's own. The sheer intensity of her stare, the sudden ice in her expression, was enough to silence the ship. Nothing moved. Nothing at all. And then she spoke, voice black as pitch, eyes cold as the coldest winter.

"I told you to be quiet_...didn't I?"_

She released Sanji, allowing the chef to speak.

"H-Hai."

"Why don't you get me something to drink?" she asked.

"Haiiiiiiii~!"Sanji noodled, completely forgetting his near-death experience. "Anything for you, my darling Robin-chwaaaaaaaaaan!"

Robin offered another of her sultry smiles.

"Arigatou, cook-san."

"Sanji-san!" Nami chimed in with a smile of her own, "I'd like something as well!"

"Of course, Nami-saaaaaaaan~!"

"Oi oi oi..." Zoro couldn't help but sweatdrop as the women walked all over the shitty cook, "Is he really that much of a pushover?"

Naruto waited until Sanji had departed before he finally raised his head.

"Thanks." he murmurred.

Robin smiled and patted his back.

"Of course."

From the moment they'd met, the pair had practically hit it off. They were both wanted, both new members of the Strawhat Crew and _both_ forced to flee Alabasta under less than pleasant circumstances. He couldn't try to explain it; he just felt comfortable around her.

Now, the latter was gazing intently at the former's tattoos, speaking soothingly to the younger man. _Zorro_ didn't like it. He sympathized with the boy_-having agreed to mentor him in the art of the katana-_but he did _not_ trust the assassin standing beside his soon-to-be pupil. Not one bit. But for some reason, she seemed to have a vested interest in Naruto's tattoos

"This is...**!"**

An overpowering sensation of pressure bore down upon her like an invisible hand. She sensed something enormous nearby, silent in the dark, like a giant passing within arms reach. A gravid, deadly prescence too huge to grant her notice. She glanced to Naruto and saw him grimace. His fingertips flexed, as though he were concsiously preventing himself from pressing them against his temples. A droplet of sweat beaded from his brow and plinked to the deck below.

"Ugh," he clutched at his stomach, "How can I be getting seasick?"

And those runes tattooed on his arms...she could read them. They were the same runes as the poneglyphs! They seemed to stretch towards his back, hidden by the long sleeves he wore. And there, superimiposed over the length of the runes, over his right arm, a name. Pluton. A name she knew well. The very same name had been engraved on the Poneglyph in Alabasta, including the dread weapon's location.

_That shouldn't be possible,_ she thought, amazed. _And yet I can feel it...!_

But...wasn't Pluton a warship? If so, how could she be looking at a human?

Naruto flushed.

_Fascinating._ Robin felt a small smile pull at her lips. She'd joined the Luffy's crew because she had nowhere else to go; the last thing she'd expected to find was...well, this. A man bearing the writings of the poneglyphs on his back with no memory of how they'd gotten there. From what she could read of the miniscule script_-and there was much written there-_he held information on the Void Century, though she knew not how much. In any case, someone had taken a great deal of time to inscribe that information on nearly every inch of him; only his hands and feet and head were left untouched by the cryptic runes. Robin wanted to learn about them-no, she needed to learn more about them.

She could feel the power thrumming beneath his skin and it intoxicated her. Drove her wild. The others might not be able to recognize it, but after spending so many years seeking out the Poneglyphs, ther couldd be no mistaking it. Robin knew what he was, just as she knew the reason for that incredulously high bounty. But she needed to know more.

"Naruto-san?"

"Hmm?" The blonde perked up, regarding her with a keen iris.

"Why don't we go inside for a moment?"

* * *

><p>...and that's all I remember." Naruto finished his explanation severa minutes later. "Sorry."<p>

Robin had taken him below-decks to the one place that wasn't occupied at the moment-the men's bunks. He could hear Usopp and Luffy overhead, doubtless up to no good, but he paid them little heed. He peered deep the cool blue eyes of the former assasin sitting across from him, looking at her intently. He'd just told her his story: from his awakening, to the escape, to accidentally ingesting the Iwa Iwa no mi, meeting that massive bear-guy, culminating in his arrival in Alabasta.

"You have nothing to be sorry about." she reached across to take his hand; Naruto flinched aside at the last instant. He wasn't all that comfortable with physical contact just yet. He opened his mouth to apologize again, but this time Robin's gaze held him. She reached out again, tentativley-slowly-laying her hands across his. Keeping it there when he didn't draw away. She traced the runes on his hands, his fingers, marvelling at them, their texture, the flawlessness of the miniscule script. If he didn't know better, he would sworn she was reading them.

"There's not much to go on." she murmurred at last, releasing his cringed, mildly stung by her words.

"If that's how you feel, then what's the point of talking to me?"

"Because I find you fascinating."

"Thanks, I think." Naruto forced a chuckle. "I guess we've gotta stick together, huh? Since the government wants us so badly." He thought of something just then. "I guess its up to me to keep ya safe then, ya know?" At her odd expression he continued. "Since I have the highest bounty on the ship at the moment...

Robin surprised him with a smile.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." she said.

"Can you blame me for trying?"

She stared at him then, and her eyes seemed to devour him.

And then, completely out of the blue, she took his face in her hands and kissed him. It was hungry and filled with need, and at first he was startled, but then he melted into it. He had never kissed a girl before; exactly the opposite. The thought of doing so had once disgusted him, certainly.

This was not that.

There was no restraint anywhere in Nico Robin. One moment she had been sitting there across from him, and the next she was kissing him with a consuming passion as hot as any flame. She thrust her tongue into his mouth, which startled him since no one had ever done that before.

Then she withdrew, and it left Naruto staggering, as if a passing storm had just come in, pounding the area with its full and unbridled fury, then moved on just as quickly. He stared at her, uncomprehending. And she said in a tone that sounded more accusatory than loving or flattering,

"It was a foolish thing for you to say, but it was also brave and rather sweet. Despite appearances and the way I am...that wasn't lost on me. And I am..." she hesitated, and then concluded, "...thanking you for it. That was me, thanking you."

She turned away then but before she could take another step, he said, "Why?"

"I told you."

Naruto shook his head.

"No, I mean...not the kiss. Not that...I'm not left wondering about the way in which you thanked me." He flushed. She hadn't left him with any questions regarding _that_ particular subject. "I meant to ask...why are you so interested in the Poneglyphs?" _And in me._ Naruto added to himself in the ensuing silence that followed. Now that he knew what these runes were he was determined to learn more about them. Barring that, he could do his best to get them off his back and body. If only Nico Robin would tell him how.

"It doesn't have to make sense to you," she said airily, "it only has to make sense to me."

Naruto chewed on that for a moment. Part of him wanted nothing more than to walk away from the former assasin. The rest of him-a significantly larger part-remained curious. Immeasurably so. The taste of her_-of her tongue-_still lingered in his mouth, taunting him; her scent hanging between the two of them in silent mockery. At length, he sighed.

"That's true, but it'd be nice if you could at least make an attempt to explain it to me."

"Does it matter?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. It does."

She continued to regard him as if she were dissecting him. Finally, she said, "I doubt you'd understand."

"Oh?"

"My interest in them stems from when I was a little girl." her voice softened, much of the seductiveness that had characterized her speech gone. "I was...very young when I first learned how to read them. It seems like such a long time agon now." A mournful note piqued her words, and his curiousity. Naruto listened attentively in silence, waiting for Robin to continue. When she did not, he frowned.

"And?"

"And that's it." Robin looked him in the eye, her expression set in stone. "Do you know just how dangerous those runes of yours are? The depth of history that's been engraved into your back?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Not a bit."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. No one wants to learn the truth about those hundred years; they'd rather wallow in their own ignorance. Unfortunately," she continued ruefully. "There's only so much I can do alone_-and she touched her head-_to be frank, you're the first lead I've found since Alabasta." She paused, and when she spoke again, it was with the heavy utterance of one was forced, very much against her will, to acknowledge her limits. "

"It's frustrating, isn't it?" An edge of anger sharpened her voice. "To have a price put on your head for something you didn't do, or in your case, can't remember."

Naruto wasn't quite sure what made him step forward; only that he did, and took both her hands in his. She did not pull away.

"I don't really understand Luffy and the others either," he said. "But if we're safe with anyone, its them." And it was true. Luffy could be a blockhead at times, but he cared for his friends. And apparently they were now counted amongst them.

"I rather doubt that." said Robin. "He doesn't know us, the enemy we face-

"What's your favorite color?"

Her eyebrows arched, startled by the sudden change of subject. "What?"

"Your favorite color?"

"Purple."

"You see," said Naruto, smiling, "Now I know more about you than I did before. That's how things happen in life: a little bit at a time."

Robin laughed at that, and he was pleased to note she had a rather musical laugh. _She should do it more offten, _he thought. Then she kissed him again, softer this time, but no less passionately. There was no hestation in his returning it this time, and he felt a connecton to her such as he had never known with any other living being. They parted momentarily, and then his lips were firmly against Robin's once more, and he felt as if he were falling into a deep, endless well, the world lurching around him.

"Mmm," She purred into his mouth, hitching her body against his with a moan. "You're good at this."

Unbidden, a memory surfaced; piercing the fog of his amnesia.

_"You're good at this!"_

Naruto blinked in surprise; because no longer was he looking at Nico Robin He was staring at a girl. She was a spry little thing, her small body wreathed in an adorable red dress, a tentative smile wreathing her face. He blinked at her, this girl all of eight years old. She could've passed for a young Robin, perhaps eight years old. He blinked again, and she was gone; vanishing into the pit that had consumed his memories. He tried not to let his dismay show but she must've seen it somehow.

"I think that's enough for now."

Robin withdrew abruptly and it was as if he had suddenly crashed to the ground. She stepped back lightly_-like a dancer-_laughed again, and then she turned and was gone from the room, leaving Naruto wondering what in the world had just happened. His temples were throbbing in

He returned to the deck where Luffy and Usopp's antics were still taking place. There was no sign of Robin. Zorro noticed him returning and looked at him oddly.

"You okay?" he said.

"Hmm?"

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

Naruto thought back to the memory-flash he'd had with Robin. Just who the devil was she?

"I...think I might have."

The swordsman yawned loud enough to put a hole through the ozone layer.

"Well then, I'm going to take a nap-

"Oi!" Naruto barked. "You promised you'd teach me how to use a sword!"

Zoro sighed and, after a moment's hesitation, tossed him Yubashiri.

"Come at me then!"

* * *

><p><em>(Later that evening...)<em>

Soon, with the lights out in their room, Naruto lay in his hamock and had to admit this was indeed quite possibly the most uncomfortable thing upon which he had ever been. He expected that slumber would be quick in coming to him; it certainly had been to Luffy and the others, whose regular breathing and slight snoring-courtesy of Mugiwara himself-could attest. By all means he should be snoring himself; Zoro's training session had left him physically unharmed, but aching in places he didn't even know he had. Yes, he should most definitely be asleep by now.

But he was wrong.

Instead, he lay there, staring into the darkness, unable to get Nico Robin out of his mind. He kept summoning up his memories of their kisses; recollection of his lips against her, of the firmness of her body as his hands had caressed her. He was starting to think he wouldn't be getting any sleep at all; his body felt like it had too much blood in it.

There was a soft creak at the door.

He turned in the bed, looked, and gawped.

Nico Robin apparently took after old tendencies in one particular aspect: She tended to look good standing in doorways.

She was, however, significantly less clothed than he. She was wearing a simple white shift_-doubtlessly borrowed from Nami-_and somehow, in the dimness of the hall light, it was practically translucent. Naruto could see the entire outline beneath it.

Robin said nothing. She simply stood there, allowing him to drink her in. He abruptly realized he had stopped breathing. He knew his heart was still beating because he could feel it thudding against his chest. Then, ever so slightly, she gave the slightest nod before turning and walking away with that uncanny noiselessness she had inherited from kami knew where.

_You can't. You don't dare. You stay right here and just forget about-_

His feet were on the floor before his brain had a chance to emphasize to him the importance of staying in bed. His chest was bare as well; he was clad only in some breeches and slacks Zorro had managed to fish out of his wardrobe. Luffy lifted his head in lazy confusion at the sudden movement but, seeing no imminent danger, yawned and plopped his head back down.

The floor was cold beneath his bare feet.

_She just wants to talk. She has things to tell me that might be of use. That might make me remember. Don't make more of this than it is._ All these and more Uzumaki Naruto told himself, and the entire time, he hoped that he was wrong. He emerged into the hallway, and he saw her disappearing around a corner, the slightest flutter of her nightgown indicating that she was indeed down just down the way.

As he reached the end of the corridor, he glanced at the far end behind him. He thought, although he wasn't sure, that he saw Usopp coming around the corner. He ducked around after Robin, reasonably sure Usopp hadn't seen him although he wasn't sure why it would have mattered if he did. Naruto was of age like everyone else; he needn't concern himself with what anyone thought...

_Except Robin. You're following her. What you're thinking of...what you're fantasizing about...it's wrong, it's just wrong. You speak of principles; where are your principles now?_

But the pounding at his temples was enough to drive any further thoughts right out of his head. There was a door hanging ope to his left. _It's a trap. That's it. It's some sort of trap,_ he thought. _The absolutely last thing you want to do is go into that room. Turn around and run before its too late._

He entered the room.

It was pitch black. He could see nothing at all.

He suddenly became aware of someone breathing behind him. He turned, and he had a brief glimpse of Nico Robin standing there, her hand on the door. Slowly, she shut it. There was a single taper in a gold candle-holder, the flame flickering.

Naruto gulped deeply. He whispered, having no idea why he was doing so: "D-Did you want to see me?"

Her voice was low and amused. "Actually, I thought you'd want to see me." She didn't bother to reach up to the thin straps that were holding up the shift; because she didn't have to. A pair of hands sprouted from her shoulders and slid them down her arms. With nothing to support it, the nightdress slid to the floor and gathered at her feet.

She stood there, nude in the candlelight. Naruto had seen countless sunrises and sunsets, and a vast blue sea, and mountains and forests and all the glories that the land and nature had to offer. Yet he knew, without question, that he had never in his life seen anything as beautiful as what he was beholding now.

Robin let him drink in the sight of her for a final time, and then she turned and blew out the candle.

He whispered her name in the darkness, and then her warm flesh was pressing against his. "Are you sure?" he asked softly. "If...If you're doing this just because you want to see what's on my back-

"I'm doing this-and she kissed him again-"because I want to take myself out of myself. Just for one night, I want to leave what I am behind. I want someone to make me feel like I'm something different." He felt hands on his back, running across the ridges of the glyphs emblazoned there, then lower. Naruto gasped.

"And what do you want to feel like?" his words were little more than a hiss, and he thought he saw Robin smile in the dark.

"Like I'm yours."

Then she stopped talking and started doing things with her hands to him. All her hands. And as she guided him backwards onto her bed, the last vestiges of both his clothing and his restraint were stripped away. There was only him and her and warmth and heat, and the rest of the world was gone.

_Robin..._

Uzumaki Naruto lost his virginity that very night, but he gained something much more precious in return. Even hours later, as Robin fell upon him, heavy and lax, he refused to let go. When she rolled over, he took her with him and she ended up sprawled on his chest. He swore then and there that he would do anything to protect it; not just this warmth he felt spreading deep inside his chest, but the woman in his arms as well. Robin had singlehandedly conquered his fear of being touched in one night, but it was more than that.

He...found he was beginning to care for her, this enigmatic woman in his arms-whom just might be a part of his past-spooning against him with a contented sigh. _I won't let anything happen to her_, he swore to himself as he felt his mind drift into slumber. Be it the marines, enemy pirates, or even the government itself...he'd protect her. Whatever it took.

_...even at the cost of his life._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: FWAH! Suuuuch a long chapter! My eyes are KILLING ME! Although, being a skeleton...I HAVE NO EYES! Naruto's getting along just fine with the strawhats, and more importantly, with Robin!Does he know her from her youth? And if so, why does she not recognize him? Or perhaps she does? YOHO! ****Oh and please don't forget to review until my ears fall off. Although being a skeleton...I have no ears to listen with! YOHOHOHOHO! SKUUUUUULLL JOOOOOKE! **

**As I said, I worked uber hardo this chapter and that cute little scene at the end. I really hope you guys and gals liked it! We get to Mock Town and Bellamy next chapter! It's gonna be a looong one! Look forward to it, ya know!**

**S****o...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review, would you kindly? **

**R&R! =D**


	4. Contact

**A/N: Yohohoho! I'm so glad you all enjoyed the last chapter! Robin is merely one of the girls in the harem, but she's definitely the primary for now. I wonder what Sanji's reaction will be the next morning once he realizes his precious "Robin-chwan" has been claimed? Well, you need wonder no longer! You'll find out as of this very chapter! As for the girls to be included in Naruto's harem I can safely say that Nami and Conis (From Skypiea) will be involved. Beyond that, who knows? That's up to your votes, dear readers! Tell me what you think!**

** As promised we're reaching Mock Town as of this chapter; did I mention I've got a thing or two planned for a certain pesky pirate? And with that being said...**

**...onto the next chapter of Hard Contact!**

_"It would be better...if you just let that woman die."_

_~Aokiji._

**Contact**

_"Gooooood morning, Robin-chwaaaaaaaaaan~!"_

Sanji glided through the halls to Robin's room, a steaming platter of breakfast in hand, a glass of orange juice in the other. The hour was late and the morning early; the sun having only just poked its head up to peer over the horizon. But no hour was too late for the loverlorn chef. He'd woken bright and early to prepare breakfast for the newest member of the crew-that shitty blonde didn't count!-and, being the gentleman that he was, had taken it upon himself to deliver her breakfast.

"I'm coming in!" the cook announced, knocking with his shin. To his surprise, he found the door ajar. Strange. Without thinking, he nudged the door open the rest of the way open and barged in. He paid no heed to the clothes scattered at his feet, neatly stepping over them as he made his way towards the bed.

Stranger still...

Why would Robin-chwan leave her clothes strewn about like this? He turned his gaze towards her bed.

But… a beautiful scene, like out of a fairy tale, met the romantic's eyes. Thick, hazy golden sunlight, filtered through the porthole. Dust motes danced with their own radiance, like tiny stars, or planets, in the air. Those sunbeams themselves danced over the sleeping figure of his Robin-chwan, kissing her dark, raven tresses, beautiful bronzed face, and lips with a soft, divine radiance – gentle and slightly parted with her dreams. In all his days, never had the chef seen anything so beautiful.

Sanji breathed in both awe and relief. She was gorgeous. And to think, she slept in the _nude!_ Such a mature lady! He could've stared at her sleeping visage for hours on end, and still wouldn't be satisfied.

Then… Naruto stuck his messy bedhead up from behind her.

The tattooed man took one of his arms out from around her bare waist and scratched his head, looking around in confusion. "Hmmmmm…?" He blinked blearily, scrubbing at his face with the back of a hand; yawning so loud he probably punched another hole in the ozone layer. "Aaaaah, morning already?" Then he saw Sanji frozen in the doorway, his face twisted into a rictus of rage. To be perfectly fair, most men would've turned stiff at such a sight. Naruto merely blinked, his gaze gliding toward the platter of food held in the cook's hand.

"Ah, is that for us?"

"Is what for us?" Nico Robin chose that very moment to stir beside the blonde, her cobalt blue eyes fluttering open to greet the day. "Oh." She smiled at the sight of enigmatic Naruto, and to Sanji's dismay, greeted him with a chaste kiss upon the lips. He rmouth lingered a moment longer than absolutely necessary as thoush _she_ were the one reluctant to break this kiss. Before Sanji could bring himself to say anything, the archaelogist sat up, drawing the sheets up to cover her bountiful bosom as she rose. The chook felt the tips of his ears burn an unabashed pink at the sight.

"Ohayo, Cook-san." she smiled warmly. "Would you mind placing that over there?"

Sanji placed the platter on Robin's dresser with both hands, certain he might drop it at any moment. He stumbled backwards, unable to take his eyes from them. His heart was breaking! Shattering, into a thousand tiny pieces!

_Robin-chwan..._

This wasn't happening! No! It couldn't be happening! His beautiful Robin-chwan, shacking up with that...that...hooligan! That tattooed punk! Just the thought of it made him want to explode! No! He _would_ explode! That was exactly what he would do! This hooligan didn't deserve someone like her! He didn't-

"Cook-san?"

"H-Hai?" Sanji blinked as Robin's voice drew him from his daydream.

"Would you mind giving us some privacy?"

At her words, Sanji felt his heart shatter. _Oh, cruel ordainer of fate! Why must you torment me so?! I am so unworthy of this wondeful woman?!_ The longer her looked at her the more felt his soul break into a thousand tiny little pieces and blow away with the wind. Despite this, he'd the succinct feeling the archaeologist wouldn't be asking him a second time, however. As much as he might've liked to kick the shit of Naruto, for defiling Robin and shattering

Robin smiled softly as the locked clicked shut behind him. It was not until the cook's footsteps receded safely down the hall that she finally spoke again, gracing the blond in her bed with a benign smile. Naruto frowned, a sudden sense of nostaliga prickling at the back of his brain. There was something so familiar about that sad smile of hers...

"I think that went rather well, don't you?"

Naruto tilted his head. He was baffled.

"You...planned this?" he asked. "Making me stay the morning, Sanji bringing breakfast...all of it?"

"I suspected something like this might happen, so I made preparations, yes." Was it just him, or was there a sly twinkle in Robin's eyes when she said that? "Why?" She sidled up to him with a sigh, dropping the sheets sheathing her bosom to drape both arms around his neck. "You aren't angry, are you?" Naruto tried to form words, but his mouth wouldn't work. Instead, he shiviered. There was an almost predaitory gleam in her gaze just now; those blue-black orbs raking over him with a hunger-a desire-as naked as her form.

"I'm_...not."_ he was almost alarmed to find he actually _admired_ her ingenuity. There was just something about her that made him feel safe. Comfortable. Warm. She was the one constant, in the fog of amnesia that held his memories captive. He still wasn't sure just what kind of past they might've shared, but Naruto knew this. _He liked her._ This thought, loosed a little laugh from his lips. He was kissing her before he could think to stop himself; his tongue probing at her mouth, requesting entry. An entry Nico Robin gladly gave. She came alive against him her lips parting with a decadent moan, reverberating against his tongue and into his mouth. This -the knowledge that he was having such an effect on her-nearly sent him spiralling out of control, but he tamped his lust down. With an effort.

Naruto broke their kiss with a soft chuckle, unable to hide his amusement any longer.

Robin arched an eyebrow.

"Something I said?"

"No." Naruto shook his head. "I just think...

_"Ara?"_ she all but purred, drawing closer with interest. "What _do_ you think about me, Naruto?"

_What I think about you..._

The words were simply there; unbidden, Naruto spoke them with a smile.

"I think you're pretty awesome, Nico Robin." He had the supreme satisfaction of watching her eyes widen at his words. And something else. Sorrow? It was swift and fleeting, scarcely lasting more than an instant but it was definitely there. She leaned forward before he had a chance to comment upon it; pressing her forehead to his. For a moment her cobalt-blue orbs held him-evoking another bout of nostalgia-then she leaned back a bit and began to touch him with both hands, her fingers hovering just below his chest.

It took Naruto a terrifying second to realize what Robin was doing; the archaelogist was actually _reading_ the poneglyph runes etched into his body.

"Fascinating." She murmurred, tracing over the runes with a delicate finger. "I wonder how you managed to do this to yourself...

Naruto frowned.

"How I managed to do _what_ to myself?"

"Oh, nothing." She smiled softly, banishing his concerns in an instant. "Now, where were we?"

"Well," The blonde blinked at the obvious question, his suspicion slowly fading in the wake of her sudden smile. "I believe you were just saying good mor-mmph."

Naruto found himself silenced when Robin's lips found his again; as she pulled herself atop him and into his lap, straddling him. Her hands loosed themselves from his neck to twiine within his hair, sending him crashing back to the bed within a soft sursurus of sheets and whispers. And something else.

"Robin...

"Hmm?"

"Do you...hear something?"

The archaelogist blinked, cocking her head. Now that she listened, she did hear footsteps...

_Oh dear._

**"NARUTO!"**

She had only just begun to formulate a reply when a black leg smashed through the door, promptly followed by its owner, screaming and swearing. The lovers blinked, momentarily taken aback by the sudden intrusion; that and the fact that the owner of said leg was practially on fire, such was his rage.

**"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE!"** Sanji roared, leveling an imperious finger at the disbelieving blonde. **"I'M GONNA KICK THE SHIT OUT OF YOU, YA TATTOOED ASSHOLE!"**

* * *

><p>Nami trembled in barely contained irritation – then abruptly sat up in her bed, utterly furious at the commotion raging down the hall. "<em>DAMARE<em>!" she shrieked. "Some people are trying to _sleep_ here!"

* * *

><p><strong>"YOU SHITTYYYYYY –!"<strong>

_"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, ERO-COOK?!"_

**Boom**.

The impact shook the hull of the Merry Go to its core. In the men's quarters, a picture dropped from the wall and hit the floor with a crash. The other guys stirred, sitting up and complaining about all the noise. Luffy did a double take, raising his bedraggled head up from a doolsoaked pillow as another tremor rocked the ship's hull. What was all the fuss about so early, he wondered? He'd been having the most wondeful dream involving mountains upon mountains of meat...

"Nanda?"

_"Kyaaaaah!"_ Chopper's cry came from above deck. "Naruto and Sanji are fighting!"

"They're doing what?!" Luffy jolted upright, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the news. "I WANNA SEE!"

"Oi, Luffy!" Usopp groaned as he floppd out out of the hammock. "Whaddya yelling for? Its too early for that!"

"Naruto and Sanji are fighting!"

"What?!"

Zoro bit back a laugh in his bunk, he'd already known full well with whom said "Ero-cook" was fighting. As another tremor rocked the hull_-as the others scrambled upstairs-_the swordsman loosed another ozone-splitting yawn, adjusted his pillow and tried his level best to return to dreamland.

"Give 'em hell." he muttered of his apprentice, rolling over.

Within seconds, he was sound asleep.

* * *

><p>Sanji couldn't believe this!<p>

Though they raged back and forth across the deck, he had yet to strike a telling blow against his tattooed nemesis. It was infuriating! As if the blond somehow knew of his movements before he himself made them! Not only was the shitty blonde matching him kick for kick, he'd also wrapped himself in something more solid than stone; the element serving to ward off the cook's otherwise lethal legs. Not stone yet not earth yet trapped somewhere between, he'd barely been able to scratch it thus far and it was driving him to distraction.

"Will you knock it off already?!" The whiskered blonde snarled, his words thick with exasperation as he effortlessly deflected another of Sanji's kicks. "Why the hell are you so pissed?!"

As if he didn't know!

Sanji lunged at him; only for a fist encased within solid stone to send stars spangling before his vision leaving him dazed and stunned. He spat out a gob of blood, crimson draping over his gaze like a haze. Remarkably, Naruto didn't follow through with the attack; instead he hunb back, waiting for him to recover. As if he were actually _concerned _for Sanji's well-being.

_That _was a mistake.

"TEMMMMMEEEEE!" Sanji launched himself into a blur, blazing with the fury of Dante's eighth inferno. Naruto raised a hand and barely managed to block the cook's furious kick, meant to crush his skull. "_Teme_…" Sanji snarled. He was so angry he was past coherent speech. Furious! Livid! Enraged! These words couldn't even begin to describe

_"C'est la vie_!"

"I SAID STOP!" Naruto roared, grabbing hold of the cook's heel when he spun to strike him in the face. "I don't have any reason to fight you!"

Sanju's overly-curled eyebrow began to twitch.

_"Mutton Shot!"_

His heel barreled through the blonde's shoulder, phasing through the armor then into loamy soil as the boy dissolved. Sanji barely had time to gawp before the blonde rose from the deck behind him and smote the cook across the back of his head something fierce. His face greeted the deck in a way no pirate nor cook desired or deserved and then Naruto was there pinning his legs behind his back; binding them tightly together with an iron grip that promised pain when he tried to struggle.

_Smart kid,_ Sanji bitterly acknowledged. On some level he must've know he would never risk his hands-a cook's livelihood-in a straight fight.

"Aw, we missed it!"

Naruto's head whipped around, a puppet's severed from its strings. Luffy and the others were standing there, seemingly sorrowed at having missed his short-lived brawl with the cook. Unbidden, a small smile played at the corners of his mouth. "Yosh," he took one hand from Sanji's leg to flash the peace sign, "Victory!"

"He beat Sanji?!" Usopp gawped.

"Coooooool!" Luffy guffawed.

"Sugoi!" Chopper chirruped. "Naruto sugoi!"

"Thank you, thank you!" The blonde bowed before their praise. "I'll be signing autographs later!"

Sanji took that opportunity to launch an assault of his own, slamming the back of his head into the face of the unsuspecting blond. Naruto blocked it and suddenly found himself on the retreat. "Bastard! Surprise attacks are unsportsmanlike!"

Sanji swung his heel down at the blonde. "Don't you _dare_ tell me what's unsportsmanlike, kono hentai!"

_"Hentai?!" _Naruto made an angry noise through his teeth.

"DID YOU JUST _HISS_ AT ME?!" the cook yelled disbelievingly. "_Kono_ –!"

"Aho!" Naruto snapped back, flexing his arm in anticipation. "This time I really will-

**"Enough!"**

Nami appeared from nowhere to raise merciless welts on _both_ their heads. Impossibly, Naruto felt _pain,_ even through his earthen armor. And then the strawberry-blonde was hoisting him up by the scruff of his neck as though he were naught but a child, her scowling face dangling mere inches from his visage. He'd never seen a more terrifying sight in his life! It made death look downright pleasant!

"Do you have any idea what time it is?!" Nami growled.

Naruto shook his head.

"Too damn early, that's what!" Their navigator demon-faced, causing him to cringe. "Now, the two of you are going to _apologize _and stop fighting, _neh?"_

"But Nami-swan," Sanji began, "He was the one who-

_"Na-ni?"_

Nami glared bloody red daggers at the cook.

Both blonde's gulped and exchanged a glance, momentarily united in their fear of the navigator.

_"Sumimasen!"_

"Ara, its over already?"

Six heads turned simultaneously towards the cabin as a smiling Nico Robin opened the door. Naruto promptly faceplamed when he saw what she was wearing; clad in a very familiar orange shirt. His shirt, to be precise. Which was absolutley confounding, especially when one considered he _hadn't_ worn it last night. Bereft of his control the armor of earth crumbled away, leaving him naked_-he hadn't a chance to dress himself before he'd been attacked-_as the day he was born.

Despite this, his attention remained fixated upo the raven-haired archaelogist standing in the doorway.

_Robin...are you trying to make a statement or something?_

"Nanda?" Luffy blinked, utterly unaware of what was going on. "Naruto, Robin...what happened to your clothes?"

"I couldn't very well wear mine while we we kissing." Robin said plainly as she crossed the deck to her beloved. "As for Naruto...

Naruto went still. He didn't like where this conversation was going. He liked it even less when the archaelogist thumbed his face towards hers. A coy smile danced across her luscious lips a split second before they found his; mashing up against his mouth with such force and ferocity the blond found himself physically rocked back on his heels.

Nami turned pale as a sheet.

"You mean...the two of you...?" she made a meshing motion with her fingers.

"Precisely." Robin smiled at the navigator, a hint of mischievous intent behind those aquamarine eyes, even as they drifted to Sanji's quivering form. "Is there a problem, Cook-san?" In the wake of her pleasant inquiry, the the blond and his anger practically evaporated.

"Not at all, Robin-chwaaaaan~!"

The cook's spine seemed to dissolve, his knees weakening into liquid jelly. Somehow Nami managed to ignore him as _she_ faceplanted, bright red, into the floor; suddenly aware of Naruto's incredible lack of clothing. _He really does have those tattoos everywhere...gah! What am I thinking?!_ Her face flared three shades of crimson, the tips of her ears burning an impossibly bright pink as the blonde picked himself up. Kami, what a figure he had!

Sputtering, she focused on the light, pretty, eyes before her.

"Ah, Nami-san...why are you staring at me?"

Nami knocked him flat with a fist to the cranium. "YOU DUMBASS!" the navigator shrieked. "Get some tact! A-And put some pants on!"

Robin's smile grew another inch. "You have to admit, Navigator-san," she said as her flowered appendages tossed the blonde a pair of jeans, "He _is _rather handsome."

Nami _burned_ from head to toe.

"Urusai!"

* * *

><p><em>(Later that night)<em>

Once more, with the lights out in the men's quarters, Naruto lay awake in his hamock. He was gradually growing used to the uncomfortable mesh and had to admit he could even manage to sleep on it sometimes. Alas, for the second time since he'd found himself aboard the going Merry, tonight was not such a night.

_Damn but he just couldn't sleep._

Tonight he'd hoped slumber would be quick in coming to him; it certainly had been to Luffy and the others, whose regular breathing and slight snoring-courtesy of Mugiwara himself-could attest. By all means he should be snoring himself; the intensity of Zorro's training sessions were increasing with alarming regularity, leaving him almost grateful for his body of earth. Else, the swordsman would've surely cut him to pieces by now. As he lay there, aching in places he didn't even know he had, Naruto found himself agreeing with his earlier assesment. Yes, he should most definitely be asleep by now.

But he wasn't, and therein lay the problem.

Instead, he lay there, staring into the darkness, unable to get Nico Robin out of his mind. He kept summoning up his memories of her and of their time together; thinking of the little, day-to-day interactions they'd had since that night. Of her hand touching his as she passed by, her hips brushing against his ever so slightly, of the firmness of her body as his hands had caressed her. He was starting to think he wouldn't be getting any sleep at all; his body felt like it was a live wire, arcing with far too much energy to possibly contain.

_This isn't going to work._

Something was wrong. He felt ill at ease, and not just because he wasn't sleeping with Robin tonight, though he would've welcomed the opportunity. He felt off. His senses were prickling, demanding action, motion, any sort of thing that _didn't _involve staying in this damned hammock. Try as he might, Naruto simply couldn't shake it. This feeling.

As if he were being watched.

Sighing, he plucked himself from the hammock, his bare feet slidding slightly as he crossed to the doors. He knew better than to disturb Robin at such a late hour; which lef thim only one option of recourse. He padded softly through the halls of the Going Merry, winding his way through the aft, followed by kitchen and then toward the deck with a familiarity that still surprised him. Their gallleon was a humble littlle ship, with all things considered, but it was home.

He almost considered going to Robin's room, but something pricked him and held him back.

_I'll check out the deck first,_ he decided. Maybe then he'd finally be able to sleep.

The evening air was cool and crisp as he stepped outisde; a full complement of stars hung out to greet him in the night sky. They'd dropped anchor for the night, but he could still feel the creaking of the boards beneath his feet, the gentle pull of the ocean currents against the hull. He walked from bow to stern and found nothing out of the ordinary. Everything seemed to be in order, from the anchor, holding them in place, to the pirate flag wafting gently in the breeze.

On a whim, he draped himself over the rail, gazing out into the sea. He half-expected to find his reflection staring back at him.

Instead, he found something_-someone-_else

Naruto's jaw nearly fell off his face. There, keeping pace beside the Going Merry, was a man. A man riding a bicycle. But not just any bicycle. What truly confounded him was the track of _ice_ trailing _beneath_ said vehicle, allowing him safe passage in what might have otherwise been impassable seas. The blond gawped at the pair, at a loss for words.

"Lovely evening, isn't it?" the stranger drawled.

"Who-

"Hmmm?"

_"Who the hell are you?!"_

"Arararara, there's no need to get so fired up." came the man's chiding reply. "I was just passing through. Its not like I'm here to capture you or anything."

Naruto froze, galvanized.

_Capture? This guy's a marine?!_

As if reading his mind, the lanky marine took one hand from the handlebars and raised it in a lazy greeting.

"Admiral Aokiji, at your service."

_"Admiral...?"_ Naruto choked out.

The human/weapon hybrid felt a cruel chill creep up his spine; and it wasn't just from the night air. There was something dangerous about this fellow. _Something wrong. _The longer he looked at Aokiji, the more certain he became. This guy...he was a devil fruit user. He had to be. There was no other way to explain the sudden drop in temperature, nor the ice that allowed him to traverse the seas so easily. But was his ability that of a paramecia...or a logia?

"Nico Robin wouldn't happen to be with you guys, would she?" the admiral's question broke Naruto from his reverie.

"That depends." he ground out. "Why are you asking, admiral-san?"

"I'm just curious, is all." was the marine's reply.

"So am I," Naruto countered disparagingly, "You'll have to forgive my caution, but I have no idea who you're talking about-"

Aokiji smiled knowingly.

"She _is _here, isn't she?"

**"!"**

A muscle jumped in Naruto's jaw. He said nothing, refusing to give himself away. But it was already too late.

"Leave." he hissed. "Before I sink you to the bottom of the sea."

"Ararara, why so serious?" Aokiji deadpanned, lazily tracing the pedals with his long legs. "Like I said, I'm just passing through."

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe a word of that bullshit."

"I suppose you're right." he levered himself up in the seat. "But there's one thing you should know about that woman you're so keen on protecting."

"..."

Naruto said nothing.

"No matter what you say, no matter what you think, nor what you _do,_ that woman will never change." The marine sighed. "She's betrayed, sidestepped, escaped and found a new partner to make use of everytime. You're no diffferent than the rest. She's always been able to rebound, and now this crew is her next haven." He pedalled lazily, easily keeping pace with the Merry, uncaring for the wrathful expression that flickered across the tattooed blonde's visage whilst he did so with the utmost of ease in any case.

"Bullshit!"

"It's not bullshit." Aokiji deflected his anger easier than the night air. "It's the truth."

"What do you have against my Robin?" Naruto grated; his every sense was screaming at him, telling him to get the **hell** away from this man, and yet he held himself in place. Whomever this man was, he was clearly a threat. That much was painfully clear, even to him. Best to deal with it here and now. But how to go about it without waking the crew? He wasn't exactly at an advantage way out here; with only the ocean floor and his own body at his disposal he was severely limited in the techniques he could use. But that didn't mea he couldn't fight. And he would, it meant he had to drive this admiral off!

_"Your Robin?"_ For a heartbeat, Aokiji was baffled. "Ah, you're that guy, aren't you?"

"That guy?"

"You know, _that." _the ice-man pantomimed a gesture with his free hand. "Those tattoos of yours...

"Stop messing around, asshole!" Naruto grated out in a hiss, molars grinding together in a rare bout of genuine anger. "I asked what you have against Robin-chan!"

"I don't have anything against her." The lanky admiral replied, remaining unfazed in the face of Naruto's threat. "The only reason I know her is because she escaped from me once. Although...you weren't so lucky back then, were you?"

This time, Naruto was keenly aware of the pain coming on; he could feel it in his bones, running its flighty fingers up and down his spine.

_Oh crap not this again!_

A lance of agony stabbed through Naruto's mind, nearly driving him to his knees. Flame. Fire. A single word burned in the back of his mind like a brand. _Ohara._ The glyphs on his body seethed against his skin, pulsating a furious orange-white as he looked on. Hot! It felt as though his body were burning from within as if something terrible was trying to claw its way out of him. He hugged both arms to his side and pushed it down, down as deep as he dared. It fought back, wrestling with him for control of his form, and for a terryfing moment he could hear it again.

**"Let me out."** A blackened voice hissed in his ear; clawing at his mind, demanding release.

_No._

**"Let me out."** It urged. **"I can destroy this fucker and you know it!"**

_No!_

**"LET ME OUT!"**

_NO!_

Naruto shook his head as his eyes flashed red, sapphire bleeding into scarlet then magenta then sapphire again as he fought the foreign force that sought dominance over him. Gradually the ruinous runes began to cool returning to their cold, cobalt coloring. He was left gasping for breath, his body slicked in a cold sweat. What was that just now? Something had tried to take over, to push his concsiousness out and assert its dominance within his mind.

"Arararara, so those are the poneglyphs, eh?"

Naruto hissed, glaring bloody red daggers at Aokiji.

"Give it up; you'd be better off if you just gave her to me now." A thoughtful frown marred the admiral's face. "Or are you willing to die for her?"

_In a heartbeat!_

Naruto glared at Aokiji a moment longer; then he roared and fired off a one-fingered salute. Before the admiral could protest his mind seized on a chunk of earth miles deep his will pinioning it leagues below the ocean floor. With a supreme effort he wrested it out of place and into his hands. Hardening it. Compacting it. Within the span of a single second his body was harder than any rock, thicker than even diamond. Spears of sheer rock and iron bristled out of his body in a grim macabre of a porcupine, promising pain for any who dared come too close.

"If you feel that way, then why don't you try and take her now?!"

"Ararara," Aokiji actually blinked, such was his surprise. "You've eaten the Iwa Iwa no mi, haven't you? That's...unexpected. You really do...scare the shit out of me." He pulled himself to his feet, standing upon the seat of his bike, impecably balanced on those absurdly long legs. Naruto watched him warily, but if the admiral expected him to attack, he had another thing coming.

"Oiiiiiiiiiiii!" Naruto drew breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, hollering to alert the others. "ENEMY-

_"Ice Time!"_

The words froze in his throat as Aokiji launched himself from the seat of the bicycle to clamp a hand across his mouth. He felt, rather than saw the ice scrawling across his flesh; felt the numbness pervading his veins in slow, inevitable death. In the time it took him to realize he was being frozen from head to toe, it was almost too late for him to do anything other than pray. Almost, but not quite. He flung up an arm in desperation, his palm opening to reveal a glimmer of light lurking in the darkness of his hand, fingers splayed.

He thrust that hand before the admiral's face.

"Get...

For the first time since they'd met; Aokiji actually looked to be at a loss for words.

_...off!"_

The light erupted from within his hand, shearing off the man's head in a shower of steam. His hands still held on, but for a second-the single span of a heartbeat-that ice cold grip slackened. Naruto chose that second to buck; arching his back with all his might and simultaneously reaching down with his free hand-squeezing something no man-ice or otherwise-wanted to have squeeze. Aokijii actually hissed -_which was rather impressive considering he no longer had a head-_ his body buckling as the blond tore himself free, shivering as remnants of the man's technique clung to his arms.

Naruto twisted upright and leapt, launching himself into the crow's nest in a single bound. But he didn't stop there. He could already see Aokiji beginning to regenerate from the damage he'd inflicted, threads of the cold tundra scrawling up from his neck and lower abdomen.

"You know, I wasn't going to kill you." he sounded almost sad. "But now that you've attacked me, I can't very well turn tail and run, can I?"

The hyper-weapon hissed.

"If you feel that way, then why don't you try and kill me now?!"

Naruto placed his hands together, creating a harsh glow of light from between his fingers. He bent the light between his palms, forcing it into the shape he so desired. The technique was recent, and one he had little to no control over. His element was earth, not light, and already, he could feel his palms begining to burn as the cradled the gleaming energy within. His visage pinched in concentration, his brow furrowed in exasperation then elation, narrow and furious as Aokiji's eyes went wide.

"Ya know," he began amicably, as though were discussing the weather, and not a matter of life and death. "I never tried to manipulate light before. Oh, I always knew I could use it ever since I woke up on that damned operating table, but bend it to my will? Nope. Truth be told, I never thought of it before. Until now." Abruptly his grin grew, deadly canines gleaming menacingly in the moonlight. "Lets see what happens!"

Naruto opened his fingers to reveal his latest-and potentially greatest-creation: a lance. But not just any lance.

"_Lanza del Relámpago!"_

The blond swiftly separated his hands and created a lance as the distance between his palms grew, lengthening the unholy verdant green into something sharp and deadly. His right fist grasped at one side of the spear and he swung back with it, his eyes looking into the face of his opponent, black with resolve.

"Here I come."

He raised his free hand, blue orbs drifting shut for a millisecond.

_"Doton: Keijūgan no Jutsu!" (Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique)_

Naruto blurred forward, his entire light as a leaf with the sudden abscence of his weight; it wasn't much, just enough to catch Aokiji off guard. His fingers wrapped around the ice-man's throat and crushed it tight. Chills swept through his hand as his palm was frozen, numbing his fingers to the hilt with frostbite. Naruto bit back a scream. The _Lanza del Relámpago _flickered out of existence in his right hand, guttering out amidst his lack of concentration, depriving him of his last weapon against the marine admiral.

"Ararara," Aokiji chortled as the frost crept to Naruto's elbow. "That wasn't very smart, _Hard Contact._ You're going to lose your hand if you don't let go."

Naruto reared his head to look back to look up; up, into the eyes of his tormentor. He knew at once that this was a man Robin feared; someone who must've been hounding her ever since she was a little girl. Compared to that, this pain was nothing. Nothing. _Nothing at all! _With a supreme effort, he forced his concsiousness back to the fore.

A fierce smile eclipsed his features.

"If you only want my arm...

Aokiji froze as the _Lanza del Relámpago_ roared to life in the blonde's hand, casting them in a ghostly green pallor. Even from this distane he could feel the heat of the lance boiling into his skin. _If that thing hits me, I'm finished!_ He tried to break free but Naruto's left hand frozen to his neck-held him fast. The blond grinned a ghastly grin at him; a smile that told him he was perfectly willing to sacrifice an arm if it meant victory. Almost too late, the frozen man recognize the resolve of his opponent.

_...then you can have it!"_

Without so much as a word, the lance of light roared forward, demolishing Aokij's entire lower body as he followed through with the slice. The man gurgled his surprise, but Naruto didn't give him the time to speak. He came back around quickly, using his improvised grip upon the cold adimiral's neck to pivot the man into postion before completely disintegrating the rest of his enemy with the lance of lightning. He _watched_ seething in silence as man's remains fluttered from the deck, down like ashes to the sea below.

With an effort, he wrapped his still frozen hand in a sleeve, silently cursing himself for

He had absolutely _no _idea if the admiral was going to come back from that one. Hopefully he wouldn't-

_Or maybe he would._

Blue eyes bulged as the section of sea where the admiral had fallen suddely began to freeze. Ice spread in a small semicircle, nearly engulfing the Merry before slowing. As he looked on the man's remains assumed that of his corporeal form, ice giving way to flesh and bone. Within seconds the ice had stopped altogether, just short of the Merry's hull. By which time Aokiji was restored, peering up at him with deadly intent. Naruto leapt down to meet him, abandoning the relative safety of the Going Merry for the precarious perch of the ice patch.

Aokiji favored him with a wan smile.

"You're...not bad." he admitted. "If I hadn't turned myself to ice before you hit, that might've killed me. Even so...I think this is going to sting for awhile." Naruto frowned, then in surprise, as he finally noticed the large slash etched across the admiral's chest. Blood steamed from the injury, plinking softly onto the ice below. A wound like that would've dropped anyone else! As he looked on the admiral iced it over, sheathing the wound in his native element and effectively sealing off his injury.

"I suppose killing you was too much to hope for." Naruto winced as the lance flickered out of existence in his hand, it seemed fifteen seconds was all he could manage. "Well, I wonder what's going to happen now-

_"This."_

And then the admiral had him again, that ice creeping across his flesh like a second skin. Naruto fought it with his own element but even then he succeeded only in confining the frozen tundra to his chest. Aokiji loomed over him with a frown, his breath frosting in the frigid night air. Naruto raged against his bonds, and despite his best efforts, was rendered impoitent. _No!_ His brain arguied, This wasn't supposed to happen! _Not like this at all, damnit!_

"It's over, boy."

"Bastard!" He hissed, "Let go!"

"Not going to happen." Aokiji replied. "I'll take you out here and now. But before that...

**"!"**

"I'll give you a piece of advice." he warned. "If you continue to associate with that woman as you are now, she'll become more than you can handle. The violent nature of the star you and her were born under will prove more of a burden than you can bear." He reared his foot back to stomp Naruto's frozen chest in. "That is what it means to love that woman, Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Oi!

The door burst open, flooding the deck with light from the kitchen.

"What's going on out there?!" a gruff voice demanded, and just over his shoulder, and in the bright glare, Naruto thought he made out a green head of hair.

"Zoro?!"

Aokiji turned, his attention momentarily divided between the human weapon in his grasp and the swordsman on deck.

_Chance!_

Naruto didn't think, he just reacted; rearing his head back to bite down on the man's hand._ Hard._ To his infinite disbelief he actually made contact this time, his teeth sank into flesh and bone, not ice. He tasted blood in his mouth; cold, frozen fluid he spat out just as quickly.

_"Doton: Kajūgan!" (Earth Style: Aggravated Rock Technique)_

Loamy tendrils of rock and soil spread from his body and latched onto Aokiji; weighing him down, forcing solidity into his form. The ice creaked precariously beneath their increased weight, splintering against his sudden and unexpected attack. Naruto felt his body sag with the sudden increase of his weighted element, and in that instant, realized he could end Aokiji. He could take the admiral with him, sending both of them down to the darkened depths of the ocean below. All he had to do was let go of his life. For a moment, he gave it serious consideration. After all, what did he have to tie him to this life, anyway?

_Robin._

The thought galvanized him. No, Naruto decided. He would win on his own terms.

"This is for my arm!"

He struck like a serpent, yelling his fury and giving his body a sharp, brutal countertwist within the admiral's grasp. The back of his head greeted the admiral's nose for a second time; but this time the marine's face did not dissolve into his element and shatter. It was with a perverse pleasure that Naruto realized he'd actually _hurt _the man, as he felt the back of skull strike home, bending cartilege and crushing capilliaries, stunning the marine admiral for a hairsbreadth of a second.

_"And this is for Robin!"_

By the time the admiral realized the boy had somehow surpassed his elemental defense, Naruto had him by the arm, locking his fingers around the man's wrist. He gave a sharp, blindingly fast twist with his hand. Even Zoro, who was looking straight at him, barely saw saw the strike. Naruto's fingers, crushed against Aokiji's elbow. _Crushed it backward._ The crunching squish of a joint being obliterated split the sudden silence, pinching at their ears. The ruined remnants of the admiral's arm hung limp and loose from the elbow down, tethered only by the bone within.

But Naruto wasn't finished.

Aokiji jerked backward in surprise as Naruto lashed out again and for a moment he thought he saw genuine anger flicker across his slack jawed visage. In the end he merely sighed, leaning back a millisecond before the blond could strike him; severing the ties that bound them and vaulting through the air to alight effortlessly upon the nearby seat of his bicycle. Naruto immediately decreased the weight of his element and body and not a moment too soon; because the ice gave way underfoot, depriving him of stable ground.

Time seemed to slow as the ice cracked beneath him, revealing the endless ocean underfoot. Not enough time to jump! He felt his feet touch the water, felt himself begin to sink, felt the strength seep from his bones...

A hand landed on his shoulder.

"Hang on!"

Naruto didn't even have time to blink; suddenly he was flying backward, hauled at an incredible speed. He recognized the hand on his shoulder, just as he did the rubber arm hauling him to safety. He also recognized a rail, hurtling toward him at breackneck speeds.

"I'd better not hit the ship!"

_He did hit the ship._

Naruto's body struck the rail and arched _over_ it, black spots speckling before his vision. He struck the deck with a muffled thud, cradling his frozen arm close to his chest. He was dimly aware of Chopper hovering over him, checking over his injuries. He could Luffy hollering at the top of his lungs at someone-probably Aokiji-his words merely confirmed it.

"Oi, bastard! You running away?!"

"I'm not running away," the admiral's voice drawled back, covering the distance between them. "I just wanted to confirm that Nico Robin and Uzumaki Naruto were with you after all, Mugiwara no Luffy. I won't take any action against you." Naruto didn't need to see him, he could _hear _the flint in the admiral's tone. "Yet." He dragged himself to his feet, just as Aokiji turned his cycle around and began to peddle away, leaving the crew to glare at his retreating form. His breath came in rasping gasps as he cradled his frozen arm, every moment sent shivers of agony arching up his spine.

_"Aokiji!"_

The admiral paused, his face slowly appearing over his shoulder as he curiously regarded his once fallen opponent. A look of irritation crossed his single eye as it regarded the recovering pirate behind him in the evening light. He still had the strength to stand after all that? _This boy..._

"I meant what I saiid!" Naruto growled. "I won't let anything happen to Robin-chan! Do you hear me?! Tell your Government that if they want her they'd better be bringig a fucking warship!" He was keenly aware of the disbelieving stares, of the crew's confusion boring into his back. "Send your best! Send a fucking army! Send Sengoku himself! It won't change anything, ya know?! I won't let you assholes have her!"

Aokiji regarded him frostily; but Naruto refused to flinch. They stared one another down, ice and earth, each refusing to yield. Finally, the former nodded.

"See that you do."

Naruto stood stock still as Aokiji pedalled off; refusing to relax until he was certain the admiral was gone. Only once the track of ice had vanished over the horizon did he finally allow his shoulders to sag. Scarce had he done so then everyone was crowding him; Luffy was demanding to know who that '_chilly-bastard'_ was, Chopper was fretting over his frozen arm, Nami was hollering at him for being reckless, Usopp was completely and totally distraught over the damage he'd done to the rigging. Only Zoro and Sanji maintained their silence; as if they alone recognized the gravity of the situation.

"Naruto...are you alright?"

Ultimately, Robin was the first to speak, laying a hand upon his shoulder. Her face was ashen, her eyes hollow, utterly devoid of the warmth she'd displayed earlier in the afternoon. Clearly she was just as shaken over what they'd just witnessed. It confirmed his suspicions; she _did_ have a past with Aokiji, as the marine admiral had claimed. Ohara. The word burned in the back of his mind once more, stirring up flickers of a past he'd not been able to remember until this very moment.

Meeting Aokiji had smashed a hole in the fog of his memories; for better or worse, he was beginning to remember. One look at Robin told him she suspected as much, and was saddened by it.

Just the sight of such sorrow made him want to embrace her, but his frozen arm prevented it. Instead he draped his remaining arm round her shoulders and tried to laugh. He failed spectacularly: all that emerged was a rasping cough. His vision flared a spectacular white, and she struggled to support him as he sagged against her.

"Naruto!"

He forced a wan smile, struggling to hold it.

"Relax." He breathed, straightening. "I'm fine. I'm-ugh!"

Scarce had he spoken then a blinding pain erupted in his chest. Naruto cried out, clutching at his heart. It...hurt! It felt as though a knife had been thrust through his ribcage cutting through flesh and bone! And yet try as he might, he could find no wound. He knew only that his body was cold, terribly, horribly cold, and the pain...oh the pain! It was growing worse with each passing second, twisting, warping...

Naruto swooned, his legs buckling, his body collapsing to the floor like a wet towel.

Instantly black cascaded through his mind. He floated...floated away...floated into nothingness. For a fleeting moment, he thought he could hear Robin screaming.

_"Naruto!"_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Aaaaaand there you have it! A lot has changed now that Naruto has joined the crew; for starters, the world goverment isn't nearly so dense as to not recognize a potential threat now that the Strawhats have him on board. Neither is Aokiji he KNOWS Naruto is a threat, hence the reason he showed up so early in the story. Sadly, we won't see Mock Town until next chapter. And Naruto is down?! Damn you Aokiji! His past is slowly starting to come back to him...will it help, or hinder him? We're picking up steam here into the next chapter! Expect things to move swiftly!**

**Kudos to those of you who recognized the Lanza del Relampago; I couldn't help but think to include it, given what Naruto is in this story. Aokiji is going to pop up more than he did in the manga so except Naruto to tangle with him again. After all, with Naruto around, Robin has quite the protector. H****e's even talked back to Aokiji?! Ice vs Earth...now that would be a fun sight to see! YOHO! **Oh and please don't forget to review until my ears fall off. Although being a skeleton...I have no ears to listen with! YOHOHOHOHO! SKUUUUUULLL JOOOOOKE! ****

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review...Would You kindly? Here's a hint for next chapter...**

****...does Naruto really strike you as the type to sit still and let his friends take a beating for any sort of reason, even if he's asked to? Better watch out, Bellamy!****

**R&R! =D**


	5. Dreamer

**A/N: Yohohoho! I'm so glad you all enjoyed the last chapter! Robin is merely one of the girls in the harem, but she's definitely the primary for now. I wonder what Sanji's reaction will be the next morning once he realizes his precious "Robin-chwan" has been claimed? Well, you need wonder no longer! You'll find out as of this very chapter! As for the girls to be included in Naruto's harem I can safely say that Nami and Conis (From Skypiea) will be involved. Beyond that, who knows? That's up to your votes, dear readers! Tell me what you think!**

** As promised we're reaching Mock Town as of this chapter; did I mention I've got a thing or two planned for a certain pesky pirate? And with that being said...**

**...onto the next chapter of Hard Contact!**

_"Zehahaha...you're looking good today, Uzumaki! How's about you let me take your head?"_

_~Marshall D. Teach._

**Dreamer**

_What am I going to do?_

Robin mulled the decision over for what must've been the upteenth time as she stared down at the feverish face of her beloved blond, his body laid out on her bed. She'd gladly given it up just so Chopper could tend to him; apparently those few seconds had been crucial in saving the blonde's life. The thick ice-coating his arms and chest had almost stopped his heart, the very reason for this collapse in the first place. They'd managed to melt the worst of the tundra, but the blonde's condition hadn't improved any.

Were it not for the inaudible rise and fall of his chest she'd never have known he lived.

The rest of the crew were scattered about the room, exhausted from the evening attack and all that had transpired afterwards. Although Naruto had been the only one to see combat last night, they were all feeling the stress of his abscence. Robin most keenly. She, despite her tiredness, was the only one left awake.

It was remarkable; Naruto had surprised her again. Not only had he defended her against Aokiji, he had lived to tell the tale. He'd wounded the man! She doubted the other Strawhats would've been so much as scratch the icy admiral, and yet-unbeknownst to him-she'd witnessed the blonde's powers firsthand. She hadn't known he was capable of bending light like that, of creating such a cruel and deathly weapon. What had he called it? _Lanza del Relampago?_ That was spanish, wasn't it?

Robin clucked disapprovingly.

Her darkness, her curse, was beginning to show itself again. It was unacceptable; these were the only people in the world that had believed in her. She would not allow anything to happen to them. She would not allow anything to happen to Naruto. Not after all these years. Not after she'd just gotten him back again.

Which meant it was time to move on.

That, of course, begged the questions: _What am I going to do? And_ _where am I going to go?_

The idea of leaving Naruto behind left Robin flabbergasted. It was sad, really, in a way he meant much more to her than she ever would to him. The moment she'd laid eyes on him in Alabasta, the memories, had come flooding back. Memories of their past, of their time together. She'd had a tiny crush on him back then; she liked to think that was the reason why she was sleeping with him; she'd never let anyone else under her guard before, let alone this close. But Naruto, he didn't remember any of it. Anything. His memories were gone, and in their place, those strange poneglyph runes etched all over his body.

Naruto groaned and mumrured something in his sleep.

"No...you can't...you can't have her...

Robin's heart rate began to increase and the barest hint of a smile graced her lips. _Oh, Naruto._ Even in his fevered dreams he was still determined to protect her. She stroked his chin with a delicate finger, the action all but unnoticed by the slumbering blonde. He murmurred more nonsensical gibberish, then fell still.

Perhaps...perhaps the last clue she needed to find the Rio Poneglyph might be found somewhere in the blonde's mind, assuming he ever recovered. Idly, she traced a hand across a whiskered cheek, her eyes drawn too closely toward the runes etched across the only part of him she could read above the blankets. His neck. She couldn't bring herself to make anything out of them.

Nothing useful. Nothing about poneglyphs. Nico Robin closed her eyes in frustration and suddenly felt very, very old. Like a stone constantly beaten by the waves, she was worn and tired. And yet when she gazed down at the slumbering blond in her bed, she couldn't help but smile. Is this what Saul meant when he told her to live? Would Professor Clover be proud of her efforts to help him uncover his past? She _did_ know this boy, just as she knew his memories were slowly returning.

She wasn't willing to reveal how much she knew just yet, however. But she was tired of waiting for him. Oh so very tired. Did he know how much it hurt her when he failed to remember? Little things, things they'd done when they were young; when they were children. Back then, he had been her one-and only-friend on Ohara. Before Jaguar D. Saul had washed up on the beach, before the horrors of the Buster Call...before everything. He had been like a shining light amongst the darkness, the one boy who didn't call her monster, who didn't mistreat her...or worse.

"When are you going to remember, Naruto?" She wondered aloud.

Naruto didn't answer.

Robin laid her head down upon his chest; the steady thum-thump-thump of his heart resounding in her ears. It soothed her fears, reminded her that, despite her doubts, her beloved blond was still very much alive. She willfully dabbed a tear from her eye, raised her head to plant a soft kiss upon his cheek. She hung over him for a moment, drinking every feature of his face in; the stronge curve of his jaw, those whiskered cheeks, soft slanted eyes, crinkled now in feverish dreams.

"Naruto," Robin tried out his name, her voice was an anguished whisper in the silence. "Wake up."

He did not stir.

Nico Robin stole a glance around her room, making certain no one was awake to hear what she was about to say. What she had to say. She'd held onto these feelings for so long; she'd walled them off and locked them away in the deepest, darkest depths of her heart; determined never to feel themagain and yet unable to rid herself of them, either. And then he had to waltz back into her life and break down the walls she'd erected on her heart. She'd thought he he was dead! To see him now, to know him now, and come so close to losing him...she didn't think she could bear the thought of it.

"Neh, Naruto-kun." Robin sighed, unable to refrain from wielding the old suffix she'd used when they were children. "You're going to be be alright, aren't you? We only just found each other again; I won't forgive you, if you leave without saying goodbye." She stroked his cheek slowly tracing the whiskers there, doing her best to ignore the tears welling up in her eyes. "Come to think of it, you never said goodbye back then, either. You were always too stubborn for that, weren't you? You never let anyone dictate your path; you always chose your own. I rather liked that about you. I still do.

Unbidden, a memory came back to her.

_"D-Don't you think I'm a monster?"_

_"Huh?" A young Naruto of seven years old blinked back at her. "Why would I think that?! Just because you can grow extra arms, that doesn't make you a monster, does it? I actually think its kinda cool!"_

_She remembered her cheeks flaming-much to her chargin-burning an impossible shade of pink._

_"Eh?" The boy cocked his head aside. "Why are you looking at me like that, Robin? Is there something on my face?"_

_"N-Nothing!"_

A lone tear trailed down Robin's cheek.

"You have to wake up." she urged him softly. "Because...

Robin swallowed, trying to force down the lump in her throat.

"Because...

_"I love you."_ she whispered tremulously, the words dangling on her trembling lips. "You don't know how much that_-you-_means to me. Please...wake up soon, so I can tell you in person." Tentatively, she once more laid her head to rest against his chest and allowed herself to succumb to the soul-shattering exhaustion that had so violently pervaded these last few hours.

The last thing she heard before succumbing to sleep was an intelligible reply.

Had she looked closely...

...she might've realized his eyes had opened there for a moment, just at the end.

* * *

><p><em>(Three days later)<em>

Two days passed with startling swiftness; the third morning found the Mugiwara crew gathered outside on deck.

Instead of marveling at the bright, sparkling sea, sights as they sank deep through the waters, instead of being awed by the prospect of going to the Sky Island, instead of being their usual off-the-wall beligerent rowdy selves, Luffy and the Strawhats remained fixated on something else entirely. The fate of their newest crewmate and nakama, Uzumaki D. Naruto.

"Is he going be all right?" Nami was the first to ask Chopper as he emerged from the cabin. All eyes turned toward the human-reindeer hybrid, each pair, expecting an answer. After an eternity of silence, their Reindeer brushed the sweat from his brow and exhaled heavily. The silence hung over them like a noose, until everyone choked on it. And still there did it hang, an invisible vice slowly tightening around their throats, constricting their hopes with every passing second.

Finally, Chopper severed that noose.

"He's fine," replied their doctor. "He's sleeping right now. It's nothing serious, but its best that he gets some rest." Everyone, even Sanji, seemed to deflate somewhat as they each received the news, knowing that their hardheaded nakama was not in as dire straits as they had initially assumed. While this was indeed good news, it remained to be seen what had caused the sudden illness of their new crewmate.

"Why did he hold his heart and pass out like that back there?" Luffy asked in confusion. "Is he sick or something?"

"He probably got it from that dumb cook there," Zoro pointed out. "Must've been something he cooked."

"Hey shut up!" Sanji snapped back at the swordsman.

"I think it has something to do with the using his powers on the sea," said Robin quietly, the concern of her words drawing all eyes unto her. "He is made of earth, after all. Perhaps using it while out on the ocean drains him somehow. Perhaps it had some sort of aftereffect on him...?"

"Hmmph!" Sanji snorted. "He didn't look that 'affected' when I tried to bash his head in earlier!"

"I think you might be right," said Nami, recalling her own encounter with the blonde's strange element as Chopper returned to the cabin to tend to his patient and his wounds. "Still...

"Maybe it was the admiral's attack, delayed or something?" Suggested Usopp. "He didn't look like he was in pain before."

"He doesn't show his pain well." Robin insisted. "It probably just took some time to affect him, that's all."

"You sounded awfully confident there." Zoro frowned. "Why is that?"

_"I beg your pardon?"_

"You said, 'He doesn't show his pain well' just now, didn't you?" The swordsman pointed out sternly, rising into a standing position. "How is it that you knew that and we didn't, Robin?" If this perturbed anyone, they did little to show it. Dumbfounded, Luffy scratched at the back of his head, and said nothing. Likewise, this sudden announcement was met with mixed reactions from the rest of the crew, each regarding Robin with varying levels of confusion and skepticism.

"Come to think of it, you did say you knew him when you vouched for him." Usopp began warily. "I remember when _Luffy and I_ first met him but did the two of you know each other before that or something?"

"No," Robin began, raising her hands pleadingly, doing her level best to ward off their qurestioning stares. "That's not it at all. You see, I-

"Oi!" Sanji snapped abruptly, interrupting whatever Robin might have said. "Robin-chwan doesn't have to say anything if she doesn't want to! So stop harassing her, Ussop!" Then he rounded on Zoro, "And especially you, baka marimo!"

"What was that supposed to mean, idiot cook?" Zoro thumbed open Yubashiri, eye atwitch with agner. "You wanna go?"

"Ha!" Sanji retorted, lifting his left leg threateningly at the knee. "Just try me! I'll fillet you!"

"Quiet! The both of you!" Nami hissed, "Gods, he's _sleeping_ for the love of-

"HEY!" Chopper protested suddenly, his loud shout muffled from within the inside of the Merry. "What are you doing?! You're not supposed to be out of bed yet!" A loud crash exemplified his cry of dismay, followed by the sounds of a one-sided scuffle that, judging by short-lived squeak of dismay, did not end well for Chopper. There came a muffled thump immediately thereafter, as the sound of heavy footfalls stumbled toward the door, making the raucus even more indistinguishable.

"Well, I'm awake now!"

All eyes found themselves glued upon the cabin door, seconds before it burst outward, bent at the hinges. Naruto stormed out, covered in bandages, most of which he ripped off before the time he cleared the doorway. Trailing immediately behind him, was a distraught Doctor Chopper, doing his best to reattach new bandages, in place of the ones that Naruto continued to tear away from of his body.

"No you're not awake!" Chopper responded, trying in vain to bandage his patient, despite the vehement resistance he received in part for his efforts. "You're dreaming! This is all a dream! A dream I tell you! Now, get back in bed!"

"Never!" Naruto snarled fiercely, snatching the gauze off of his cheek and chest when the doctor tried to reapply it.

"Oh, you're awake." Luffy commented idly, grinning widely shortly thereafter. "Feeling better?"

"Something like that." Naruto shrugged, bopping Chopper on the head and flinging the reindeer doctor into Robin's lap as he walked past. "So what did I miss?" His gaze roamed over the crew, his normally bright blue eyes slightly dulled with what he'd experienced. Robin felt something lurch inside of her. She knew that look. It was the look of a powerless man, one who'd lost hope; one who was out of touch not with just the world, but himself as well. She needed to talk to him. Alone. Needed to bolster his spirits before he did or said something incredibly foolish. But for now, she merely stroked Chopper's fur, soothing the distraught doctor as all their crewmates turned their attention to the battered blonde.

"Falling ship." Zoro said, as though this explained everything.

"Diving." Sanji continued with a grimace.

"Monkeys." Usopp added.

"M-Monsters!" Chopper squeaked.

"Sky Island!" Luffy finished with a grin that could outshine the sun.

Naruto sweatdropped.

"Maybe you guys should give me the full version...

* * *

><p><em>(One Lengthy Explanation Later)<em>

It took a great deal of explaining on Robin's part to convince Naruto that, yes, there was an island in the sky; and, no, she wasn't trying to kill them all in convincing Luffy to go there. It took her even longer to reassure him that she was perfectly fine-that Aokiji hadn't returned and done anything to them-or her-while he slept for the last three days. And then he surprised her. Even as she took him aside to speak with him in private, he pulled away, forcing her to follow him to the stern. He allowed her to sit next to him, let her run her fingers through his hair.

The blonde sighed and turned his face into her hand, her palm cupping his cheek as she told him their destination.

After much explanation and with a ship falling from the sky, a course had eventually been made for Jaya during his abscence. The news seemed to register as little more than a blur to Naruto's mind. He was still aching and out of sorts from Aokiji's attack; that much was apparent. She doubted he would even speak to her after what had happened-

"I'm starting to remember." Naruto announced abruptly, folding his arms to lean out against the rail.

Robin started in surprise, taking her hand away from his face, her fingers numb with shock. Oh.

_Oh dear._

"R-Remember what?" she forced her features into an emotionless mask, refusing to give voice to the sudden surge of fear she felt.

"Little things," the blonde admitted, staring out at the ocean; a cool sea breeze whistled through his clothes and hair. "Important things." His gaze found hers, lingering in unspoken question. "Does the name _Aokiji_ ring any bells?" Robin frowned at that loaded question; was he being serious, or was the inquiry merely meant in jest? She wasn't certain. Uncertain of what to say, she waited for Naruto to continue.

She was not dissapointed.

"I know he spared you, for one." he said quietly, the words numbed and detached. "Its strange. I thought he was lying, before. But now I remember. He let you go. He killed everyone else; my grandpa, my mother, my father, all the scholars and the professor...everyone. Except you." A wan smile tugged at his lips. "And me, of course. But that goes without saying, doesn't it?" There was not so much as a hint of malice in his words; a sliver of sadness perhaps; but no anger whatsoever. This utter lack of emotion chilled Robin. She'd killed to survive, learned to take the life of whomever stood in her way and smother the guilt and regret she felt at the death she caused. Somehow, this apathy was worse. Much worse.

"Why did they do it, Robin?" Naruto turned to face her and his eyes were red, his pupils sinister slits of scarlet. "What did we do, to make them hate us so much?" Robin considered her answer for a moment, wondering how much she ought to reveal as she peered into those crimson orbs.

"The answers are probably somewhere on your back." She laid a hand aross his, parted his fingers and intertwined them with hers, gave a gentle squeeze. "Or maybe on your arms?" His lips quirked in a small smile; he appreciated her pitiful attempt at humor. She leaned into him and laid her head against his, uncaring as his ragged locks tickiled at her nose. They sat like that for a very long time, the two of them, two members of the Mugiwara crew, two exiles taking solace in one another's prescence.

And as they sat, Robin began to reconsider her plan to leave the Strawhats. She thought back to what Naruto had said; to the gauntlet he'd thrown down before Aokiji and the World Government. Honestly, she had not been expecting that.

_"I meant what I saiid!" Naruto growled. "I won't let anything happen to Robin-chan! Do you hear me?! Tell your Government that if they want her then they'd better bring a fucking warship!" He was keenly aware of the disbelieving stares, of the crew's confusion boring into his back. "Send your best! Send a fucking army! Send Sengoku himself! It won't change anything, ya know?! I won't let you assholes have her!"_

She knew Naruto wasn't the sort to go back on his word. The question was, would he die trying to defend her? A living superweapon he might be, but she'd seen the power of the marine admirals firsthand. Would he be able to stand up to that power? Would the rest of the Strawhats? Her mind told her no. Her heart said they could, and would. And if anyone stood even a remote chance against the might of the marines, then it was the rowdy pirates with whom she'd thrown in her lot.

Maybe she _would_ stay.

"What was it like?" Naruto asked suddenly, softly. "Ohara, I mean. I've tried to remember, but I keep drawing a blank." He looked to her and Robin saw he was lost; struggling to remember a life that had burned to the ground, reduced to ashes with the island that had been their home. Her heart cried out at the sight. Keeping these secrets from him was a mistake. He wasn't shying away from his-their-past in the slightest. He _wanted_ to remember, and in holding her tongue, she was preventing him from doing so.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Robin paused, taking his measure. "You might find you don't like what I have to say."

"I'm sure." he remained adamant, giving her hand a soft squeeze. "I want to know everything."

"Alright, then." Robin scooted closer to him to tell her tale; but not before delivering a soft peck upon his cheek.

Naruto blinked.

"What was that for?"

"Do I need a reason to kiss you?" she asked archly.

"No, its just-_mmph."_

Robin kissed him again, this time nudging his face to meet hers, lips alightly touching his. She would've been perfectly content to pull away just then, but Naruto had other plans; his fingers wrapped around the back of her head and drew her deeper into the liplock, probing at her lips and teasing her tongue, eliciting a soft moan of surprise from her mouth. _Mmm._ Her tongue tangled with his wrestling within his mouth, fingers tangling against the matted mop of his hair.

Somewhere on the lower deck, Usopp screamed in surprise.

"W-W-W-What the hell are you two doing so suddenly?!"

Nami dealt him to the deck with a fearsome blow.

"Urusai, baka! Can't you see they're busy?!"

"G-Gomen...

"If you keep this up I won't be able to tell you anything." Robin remarked as they broke the kiss.

"I suppose you're right," Naruto sighed, leaving his back to the rail. "Like I said before, now's as good a time as any."

"Out here?"

He nodded.

"I don't care if they hear."

"So you truly want me to tell you, then?"

The super-weapon nodded.

_"Tell me everything."_

* * *

><p>For the rest of the voyage Naruto kept apart from Luffy and his crew, lost in his own thoughts. Save for his lessons with Zoro and time spent with Robin, he'd said and done very little since the latter had revealed to him the details-what she knew-of their past together. Knowing it heartened him, strengthened his resolve to keep her safe. His own memories were still slow in returning, but didn't doubt her for a second. After all, why had she told him of his past, if not to reveal the truth?<p>

That wasn't what troubled him; even as they sailed towards the harbor of Mock Town, his mind was still ill at ease.

He began to pace around the deck, occasionally grunting frustratedly to himself. That afternoon had dawned soft, sweet, and warm. The sails of the Merry hung lifelessly as they drifted into port, and each day had been growing warmer than the last, Naruto had been sleepless for three hours already…

He kept falling back to his confrontation with Aokiji, recounting just how close he'd come to death only a few days ago. It stung, knowing he wasn't as all-powerful as he'd first thought himself to be. He could be injuried he now knew. Maimed. Even killed. He still felt the lingering effects of the admiral's frostbite; the phantom pain of feeling his heartbeat slow to a crawl, then stop altogether. By Chopper's accounts, he shouldn't even be alive right now. And yet he was.

_I love you._

Contrary to the archaeologist's belief, he _had_ heard Robin's voice in the black of the coma; it had given him the strength he needed to fight; to resist the blackness. To not walk towards that light, even when it would've been so much easier to just let go, spare himself the pain and pass on. It was a strange thing, knowing someone loved you. Cared for you. Was willing to sacrifice their very being, to ensure your safety. But he wouldn't pressure her about it. She'd tell him when she felt the time was right. Until then...

Naruto glanced down at his hand, frowning at the runes there. Clenched it into a fist.

_I need to become stronger._

He'd held his own against Aokiji. Barely. He might not be so lucky next time. He needed to learn how to control this power of his; harness whatever it was that made him the key to unlocking Pluton. Unbidden, he felt a tingle of power in his right hand. _Pluton._ The dread entity within him stirred at his thoughts; prickling at the edges of his consciousness, testing his mental defenses. He could feel it, sense it like a prey does its predator waiting and ready to pounce upon the first opportunity, the slightest weakness.

"**You'll slip up."** it hissed at him; its voice was a black whisper, an oath of dire promise. **"And when you do...**

Naruto silently resolved never to show such weakness. If this..._thing_ inside him were ever to emerge...no. He quelled that thought with an effort. He had the succinct feeling something very bad would happen if he ever gave himself over to power inside him, if he let it rule him. Something terrible. Horibble. And yet still, the desire for strength remained.

_I **must** become stronger._

He touched a hand to his forehead, silently lamenting his weakness. So lost was he in his own thoughts that he almost failed to notice the platter of food until it was laid on the rail opposite him. The blonde blinked, the sudden motion his peripheals drawing him from his daze. He found himself staring at a simple platter, atop which lay a number of delectable-looking sandwiches.

"Here." Naruto actually _blinked_ as Sanji inched the plate towards him. "You need to keep up your strength."

_"Huh?"_

Naruto frowned down at the food, looking as though it might rear up and try to bite his hand off. He turned, regarding his fellow blond with a wary, almost baleful glare. Only a few days prior, this cook had tried to kick the living shit out of him for sleeping with Robin. Now he was offering lunch? Something smelled fishy here, and it wasn't the ocean.

"What's this?"

Sanji took one last drag on his cigarette, said nothing, his gaze fixed on some point in the distance. The afternoon sun seemed to burn red like its soft, crackling tip, the ash glowing like a blacksmith's forge in the east–its bloody rays piercing both their eyes, even through a curtain of shimmering golden hair.

"Oi, shitty cook." Naruto frowned. "You gonna say something or not?"

Sanji exhaled a lungful of smoke in his direction; Naruto stubbornly fought down the urge to cough_._

Silhouetted against the rising sun, the cook pulled the spent filter from his lips and swiftly flicked it overboard. He spared a moment to watch it go out – sizzling in the warm, flat cerulean water, growing dim, and begin its long, long journey to the depths – then turned away from the rail and fixed Naruto with a glare so stern-so serious-it actually startled him.

"You said you'd protect Robin-chwan." It was not a question.

A muscle jumped in Naruto's jaw. Not this again!

"I did." he answered, his voice flat. "What of it?"

"How far are you willing to go in order to do that?" Sanji grilled him.

_And what would you know about it?!_

Something snapped in the blonde. He squared up to the cook and grabbed him by the collar, hoisting him off the deck with ease. Sanji didn't flinch. He didn't even bat an eyelash. Sapphire drilled into azure, and neither relented; the two blonde's stubbornly held their ground and refused to yield. At last, Naruto released him, shoving the cook backwards with a flick of his wrist, sending him skidding toward the stairs.

_"I'd give my life for her." _Naruto's voice was little more than an angry hiss. "Can you say the same?"

Sanji seemed to accept that answer; because he rolled his shoulders, spun on a heel, and stalked back down the stairs. But not before his reply carried after him.

"So just protect her then, dumbass." the words echoed up at him, "Don't think about anything else. You do what I can't; and I'll do what you can't. Got that?"

Naruto waited until the cook was out of sight, then gobbled down the sandwiches with gusto.

_So good!_

Naruto's stomach growled in planitive protest as he finished off his late lunch; then considered asking Sanji for more food and immediately _reconsidered_; he already knew he had earned the cook's ire, he'd no desire to push his luck and have his food poisoned! Oddly enough, the cook's words had galvanized him; he'd been worry about too many things, when what he _should _be focused on was standing right in front of him. Or in this case, below him.

He caught Robin's eye from the lower deck, shared a small, secretive smile with her.

_I **can** become stronger._

Aokiji's words kept prickling at him, nagging at his soul, niggling at his mind with a growing sense of unease. But now he could ignore them. Overcome them. The next time he encountered that chilly bastard, he'd have a few suirprises up his sleeve. And there _would _be a next time. He'd no doubt of that. When that time came, he would fight. He would win. And maybe-just maybe-he'd put some of his demons to rest. Not just for Robin but for himself. For his parents. For all those who had fallen on Ohara.

And yet he had the strangest feeling.

_I will!_

So long as Robin was safe he still had reason to continue. Purpose. He would find a way. He _would _protect her. He would have his revenge. And he would be rid of these demons.

_No matter what!_

* * *

><p>"Oho!" Luffy laughed as he and Zoro disembarked. "There's a lot of different people here!"<p>

"Seems like a fun town." his first mate agreed.

"Not good." Nami frowned from the railing. "Do we honestly think those two can make it back without causing trouble?"

"Well, this is a rough place to begin with." Usopp replied. "The chances of that happening are pretty damned slim...

"You're right!" Nami agreed a little too quickly for a certain blonde's liking, "This isn't good!"

Naruto let out a long suffering sigh, his displeased expression deepening. He didn't like where this conversation was going. Not one bit. Robin had disappeared shortly after they docked, saying something about seeking information on Sky Island. She'd politely refused his request to come with her, leaving him with a chaste kiss on the nose before departing. As such, the morose blond was left to look on as his _senchou _took the lead an set out to explore the town on his own.

"Oh, Naruto-san~!"

The blonde bristled an eyebrow, momentarily taken aback. He knew that tone of voice...

"D-Did you want something, navigator-san?"

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Nami smiled a tad too cheerily. "It's Nami! N-A-M-I! Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"I think you just did."

There was a sordid silence as he peered into those chocolate brown orbs.

"Say, do you wanna-

"No." Naruto interrupted quickly, cutting to the chase. "_I do not."_ He knew captain Luffy well. Too well. His first mate, even better. Anything involving those two equalled trouble. Especially for any poor soul unfortunate enough to be near them when said trouble erupted. Mock Town was unruly enough already; he had no intention of setting foot here unless he absolutely had to.

"But why noooooot?" Nami batted her eyelashes at him. "I need someone to help me keep those two in line!" A peculiar gleam entered her eyes. "And I'd be very _grateful_ to that someone...

Naruto felt the tips of his ears burn a bright pink.

"Fine!" He sighed. " I'll come with you! Just stop giving me those damn puppy eyes!"

"Promise?"

"Ugh, yes! I promise!"

"Yatta!" Nami's pout vanished, replaced by tactless guile, confirming his suspicion that it had been just that; an act, to secure from him his word. Curse her cleverness! Why was it that he was always so damnably _weak_ whenever it came to women?! Were it not for his pride, he would've simply refused her outright. Sadly, his pride was just as important to him.

"But let's have you put this on first!"

"Eh? Oi!" Naruto grunted as the navigator threw a black cloak over his head. "What the devil is this for?!"

"You have a huge bounty on your head! If someone sees those glyphs on your body they might decided to collect!" Naruto opened his mouth to argue, and promptly snapped it back shut. Nami had a point. His bounty was already ridiculously high; the last thing they needed was a bunch of punks trying to collet. Not that he couldn't handle them, mind you. He most certainly could! Grumbling softly, he pulled the cloak on, grimacing as it sheltered his face from the warm afternoon sun.

"Do I have to wear this?" he asked of Nami.

The navigator wasn't listening.

"Luffy! Zoro!" She called out before the pair could disappear into the crowd, "Matte! We're coming with you!"

"Sure!" Their boshi-wearing captain grinned. "Sanji, you stay with the ship!"

The cook growled something incomprehensible, but stayed put.

"Don't you lay a finger on Nami-san, you blond bastard!"

"Like I'd do that," Naruto sighed as he flung himself over the rail. He shot Chopper a sly smile, heedless of the doctor's protests that he still wasn't well enough to set foot in the town.

"Better luck next time, m'boy!"

_Whoa!_

As soon as he set foot on the ground he felt it. The strength that had deserted him on the sea came roaring back into his body; flowing from the earth, into his feet, into his form, a seemingly endless loop that left him supercharged with power. He stood there, reeling from it all. Come to think of it, he hadn't set foot on actual earth since Alabasta, and even then, that had been mostly sand. He hadn't felt any different there. But this, _this _was a different story. But Jaya...well, that was a different story, wasn't it?

It was as if he'd been missing a precious piece of himself, and only just now recovered it. He felt complete. Whole.

_Maybe it has something do with the Iwa Iwa no mi?_ he wondered to himself. Not only did he feel physically stronger, he was more aware as well. He could sense the prescence of hundreds of pirates crowding the island so much so that he had to actively block it out, this new strange sixth sense of his. Chuckling, the blonde kicked off his sandals, desiring nothing more than to allow his bare feet to touch the soil. He reiceived a few odd looks for his efforts, but in the end it was completely worth it.

He felt the earth stir underfoot, as though the island itself were welcoming him like a long lost friend. He loved it.

"Naruto?" Nami called. "Aren't you coming?"

"Hai!"

Naruto flexed his fingers and made a fist, stifling his laughter.

_I think I'm going to enjoy this._

He almost _wished_ some punk would try something; then he'd have an excuse to try out his newound strength...

* * *

><p><em>(Some hours later)<em>

Some hours later, Naruto got his wish.

_"Is there a pirate with a strawhat here?"_

"Nanda?" Luffy blinked as a stranger strode into the bar they just so happened to be in.

"Looks like he's calling you out, Luffy." Zoro half-turned in his seat, touching a hand to the hilt of Yubashiri.

"It's B-Bellamy!" someone whispered.

Naruto and Nami said nothing; although the former frowned.

_Why do I have a bad feeling about this?_

He'd held his tongue ever since they'd first set foot on Jaya. He'd done as Nami had asked, careful to keep Luffy and Zoro from starting needless fights; from getting the crew kicked off the island. There were a sizeable number of pirates here, and his disguise had earned him more than one odd glance. And yet in spite of tand Hell, he'd even been quiet when Luffy argued with that masssive man at the bar-something about cherry pies and other nonsense-and for a time, he thought they'd get out without making a fuss.

Until some punk named Bellamy barged into the bar and started asking for Luffy. Everything went straight to shit after that.

Incredibly, Luffy and Zoro _allowed_ themselves to be beaten. Naruto was thunderstruck. He knew for a fact that Luffy and Zoro could take the entire bar by themselves; so why, were the two of them standing there, like a bump on a log? Did it have something to do with what Nami had said, telling them not to fight? Baffling. When Nami tried to ask the bartender about Sky Island before the _real _brawl broke out, everyone looked at her as though she'd grown another head.

_Then_ they started laughing.

"Sky Island?!" One of them crowed.

"Give me a break!"

"What are you stupid or something, bitch?!"

Now, Uzumaki Naruto considered himself a tolerant man. You could punch him in the face, and he would laugh it off. Spit on him, and he'd smile. Pour _sake _on his head and he'd just drink it. But when someone mocked his nakama, all bets were off. When someone _laughed _at his nakama, made light of their dreams, said they weren't real...that was unacceptable. Well, it looked as though he'd finally found an excuse to cut loose after all.

Naruto made an angry noise between his teeth.

_"Kono-!"_

"Naruto!"

He caught Luffy's eye. Bloodied and battered though he might be, the rubberman still shook his head.

"We're...not going to fight this time."

The blonde bristled.

"Sorry, captain."

When one of Bellamy's goons tried to punch _him_ in the face, however, they found themselves in for a rude awakening. Naruto did _not_ stand still and take the beating as he'd been ordered. Scarce had someone struck at him than they found themselves levered up and _over_ his shoulder, flung backward into the bar. The sudden motion sent his cowl aflutter; teairing back his hood and revealing his whiskered visage to the surly patrons of the den gathered round the tables.

_"I'm going to disobey that order."_

Nami gawped.

"Naruto, what're you-

She froze in mid-speak, the words drying out on her tongue. His eyes. They were red. Gone was his simple sapphiric gaze, in its place lay a sinister scarlet. His slitted sight narrowed in the direction of Bellamy, crimson orbs thick with cruelty and contempt. There was a silence as Bellamy's gang saw his face, that unmistakeable whiskered visage plastered on wanted posters the world over.

"Oh?" Bellamy sneered. "Looks like we've got a bigshot here. You gonna fight me, little man?"

Naruto was in no mood for pleasantries; he uttered but one word.

_"Apologize."_

"Huh?!" Bellamy cackled. "What was that?!"

"I said apologize." Naruto repeated blackly, cracking his knuckles. "You laughed at Nami-san. I don't take kindly to that sort of thing," he continued, heedless of the navigator's flush, "But she asked me not to make too much trouble, so I'll ask you once more. Apologize."

Sarquiss snorted.

"And why should we apologize for-

The blond growled.

**"I wasn't talking to you, small fry!"**

Naruto merely raised a hand; and the very earth itself began to ripple. It swelled and buckled, rising overhead, assuming a monstrous shape. Floorboards broke backwards, the very earth of the bar itself assuming that which had never been seen, the terrifying likeness of a dragon, composed solely of earth. Someone screamed, and that was all it took; everyone rushed from the bar as fast as their legs could carry them, leaving alone the Strawhats-Naruto-to face the remainder of Bellamy's crew.

_"Dosekiryū." (Earth Dragon)_

Sarquiss didn't even have the chance to scream; one minute he was propped up against a stool, the next, he was drowning beneath a mountain of mud, thrust through the window and into the streets. Naruto returned his attention to Bellamy, eyebrow arched in that old, unspoken question.

"You feeling lucky, punk?"

Faster than the eye could blink, the rookie bent to the ground, his legs warping into springs of steel. Paramecia, huh?

"Spring Snipe-

Naruto beckoned a second time, his skin hardening.

_"Domu." (Earth Spear)_

Clenched knuckles barreled into the rookie's visage; crushing cappillaries and breaking bone, leaving an indellible mark upon his face. Even as Bellamy fell the blond was already behind him, driving a backfist down into the man's unprotected stomach, shattering his ribs like they were so much glass.

"Ja ne." The blond waved, plunging his elbow deep into the youth's face.

Bellamy's last sight was of those hellish red orbs peering down at him...

_...and then he knew no more._

**A/N: Aaaaaand there you have it! A lot has changed now that Naruto has joined the crew; for starters, the world goverment isn't nearly so dense as to not recognize a potential threat now that the Strawhats have him on board. Naruto and Sanji have made a truce...of sorts. Sanji respects the fact that Naruto was willing to risk his life for Robin's, and Naruto...well, maybe he doesn't think our favorite cook is quite so shitty after all. Although as you'll soon see..that truce may not last very long.**

**And at LAST we see Bellamy get owned like the little punk he is. And Naruto being protective of Nami! Daaaaaw!**

****Naruto REALLY isn't the type to sit still and let his nakama take a beating for any sort of reason, is he? You had that coming, Bellamy! ******YOHO! **Oh and please don't forget to review until my ears fall off. Although being a skeleton...I have no ears to listen with! YOHOHOHOHO! SKUUUUUULLL JOOOOOKE! ****

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review...Would You kindly? And of coruse, enjoy the preview! Its a surprise!**

**(Preview)**

_Naruto froze. Something in his mind stirred at the sight of this man, this self-proclaimed "dreamer" sitting in front of him. He felt the hackles on the back of his neck rise, his body instinctively responding to what he felt and recognized as an obvious threat._

_"I wont," he growled, "Let you near Luffy."_

_"Zehahahaha," the massive man snickered. "Is that so?"_

_"It is."_

_There was a silence._

_"Zehahaha...alright then, Uzumaki!" Teach sneered. "How's about you let me take your head instead?"_

_Naruto spat at him._

_"My head? I don't think so buddy-_

_Teach opened his hand._

_"Kurozu!"_

**R&R! =D**


	6. Skybound

****A/N: Yohohoho! I'm so glad you all enjoyed the last chapter! Robin is merely one of the girls in the harem, but she's definitely the primary for now. I wonder what Sanji's reaction will be the next morning once he realizes his precious "Robin-chwan" has been claimed? Well, you need wonder no longer! You'll find out as of this very chapter! As for the girls to be included in Naruto's harem I can safely say that Nami and Conis (From Skypiea) will be involved. Beyond that, who knows? That's up to your votes, dear readers! Tell me what you think!****

**...enjoy! Major credit to Sarcasticles and his stories for giving inspiring me to continue writing! And in other knews, for those of you who are Fast and Furious fans, I am sad to say that the news is true. Paul Walker has passed away as a result of an automobile accident in California. May you find peace in the afterlife, my friend. And on that sad somber note, for real this time...**

**Here we go! Gonna take a small break after all this...this constant update rate is killing me! But I shall not stop! And again, I own nothing!**

_"Hard turn to the Clouds!"_

_~?_

**Skybound**

As soon as they docked on Jaya, Nico Robin slipped away. It was both painfully easy and...yet excruciatingly difficult at the same time. As expected no one save Naruto noticed her passing but a strange twinge of emotion-guilt, mayhaps?-_That was ridiculous; she hadn't felt guilty in years_!-made her pause. Part of her wanted to tell one of them where she was going. What she was doing. Robin felt the urge to explain herself, to say it wasn't them it was her, her own desires that caused her to leave the vessel and seek out information on this so-called Sky Island. But...she didn't. Robin was determined to do things on her terms this time, to prove herself worthy of what his-of Naruto's-affections after what'd transpired during their voyage.

It was foolish of course to become so emotionally invested in one person-but Nico Robin simply couldn't help herself. Despite all efforts to the contrary, Uzumaki Naruto, her amnesiac, childhood friend-turned-weapon of mass destruction by the World Government, had wormed his way back into her heart yet again. Just as he'd done when they were young. And again, she'd been the one to (re)start things between the two of them. The irony was not lost on her. His words to Aokiji had galvanized her, now as they had then.

_"I will protect her to my last breath!"_

Exhaling in a long suffering sigh , the blackette shook her head. Although she might've come to terms with how she felt for her old friend-that didn't change the fact that he was reckless to a fault. Despite having nearly lost his life at the frosty admiral's hands, he still seemed determined to keep his word. Foolish. He wouldn't he be able to protect anything if he died.

Nothing would go wrong, she told herself. If he wanted to keep her safe, then she would simply strive her utmost to ensure the same for him. Nothing more, nothing less. However, such thoughts were the furthest from her mind at this instant. She was simply hunting for information on the supposed Sky Island. Everything would be fine.

And yet...

And yet the icy spectre of Aokiji still loomed in her mind, a frigid ghost that seemed to haunt her every step into Mock Town. She expected to see him around every corner, lurking in each face, dwelling within all those shadowy figures standing just out of sight. It was absurd. Ridiculous. Robin hadn't felt such fear since she was a little girl, and yet here she was, quite literally, jumping at shadows. If Aokiji had caught them out at sea, then who was to say he couldn't find her on dry land? Who was to say he couldn't summon a Buster Call to destroy this very island-

_No!_

Robin stubbornly squashed that thought beneath her heel. No. She refused to falter. She would not panic, would not give into her fear. Besides, it would not do to show weakness here in the prescence of such strangers and certainly not in front of the crew. She owed Naruto that much, at the very least. Certainly, the whiskered warrior deserved better after all he had done for her.

What was he up to at this very instant, she wondered?

* * *

><p><em>"Ba~ka."<em>

Naruto almost blinked, as Nami's fist lightly struck the back of his head. _Almost_. Granted, he was momentarily startled, both by the lack of rancour behind her words and gentleness of her hand; though she could've easily given him a massive lump on the skull for the chaos he'd caused, she did not. If anything, it felt as though she were chiding him, rewarding his destruction with priase. Although he'd nearly destroyed half of a bar mere moments before in a blinding rage-contrary to Luffy's wishes-he had yet to suffer the repercussions of his actions. He knew they were coming of course-they had to be after a stunt-like that, and he'd since chosen to accept whatever punishmment they meted out on him for his disobedience.

"We were _trying_ not to cause a ruckus, remember? Apparently that's gone out the window." her auburn gaze traveled fron his to address the prone forms of Bellamy and Sarquiss sprawled out in the street, twitching in spurts of indescripable agony, barely breathing after their brutal beating and subsuquent extraction from Naruto's mountain of mud. They would live...maybe. But that wasn't the issue. This, was. Everyone kept staring at them. More importantly, Naruto. He'd easily offed-or nearly son-one of the strongest pirates upon Jaya at the moment, all without breaking a sweat.

"I know, but...

"But nothing." she reached over to tousle his hair, drawing muffled a protest from the blonde. "Kami, you're so impulsive...

"Hey, its not like I could just stand by while they insulted you-

"Oi, Naruto."

The blond bristled, his words fallng away as Luffy and Zoro picked themselves up off the ground where they had flallen; the former now turning to address him, and most likely, his disobedience. Naruto brached himself as best he could-while a very small part of him almost wished Nami hadn't dragged them out of the bar by before his eruption of anger. Though each bore a few cuts and minor bruises from their short-lived beating, he secretly suspected, his senchou and first mate would make a full recovery by evening. Assuming he was still part of the crew by then.

"Sorry, Luffy." for all that he believed himself to be in the right, Naruto, found himself _apologizing_, head dipping low in recompense for his earlier actions. "I disobeyed your orders. It won't happen again. I'lll understand if you want me to leave the crew." Understand it-yes. But like it? Not at all. Although he yad yet to mentally recover all his memories he'd begun to think of the Going Merry as a sort of home away from home-wherever that may be-and the crew as his friends. Perhaps even family. And then there was his relationship with Robin. To be evicted from that home, disowned by that family, removed her...it struck at his very soul. Honestly, it hadn't yet occurred to him what he might do if Luffy actually kicked him out...but it just didn't feel right to get off scott free.

"You're serious about this, kid?" Zoro interjected, his gaze steely.

Naruto nodded. "Entirely. I can't be in the crew if I just do what I please, whenever I please."

"W-Wait a second!" Nami jerked back as though weapon's words were venom, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him towards her-embracing him as though he were her big brother, and she his little sister. "You can't be serious! Oi, Luffy! You're not going to make him leave, are you?! Zoro, do something!"

"It's the captain's decision." the swordsman folded both arms before his chest and looked to their leader. "What'll it be, Luffy?"

"..."

A terrible silence passed between the trio as they awaited their captain's final decision. Would Naruto stay...or would he go? At last just when the blond was certain he couldn't take it anymore, Luffy raised his head and spoke two words. Two simple words, and yet they couldn't have had a greater effect on Naruto's mind.

"He stays!"

Three strawhats facevaulted.

"But I disobeyed a direct order!" Naruto cried! "How can you trust me to listen to you after something like that?!"

"Ah, don't worry about it this time!" his captain chuckled, giving him a hearty slap on the back; just like that all was forgiven. "I understand why you did_...what you did!_ You really don't like it when people insult our nakama now, do ya? There's nothing wrong with that!" The superweapon had been prepared for the worst-ready to hold in his grief and bid his friends goodbye. Now,his mouth hung agape. Better to be forigiven for something he intended than an action he did not, one might say, but this...this was unheard of!

"You're serious?" Uncharacteristic though it might be, he could feel his eyes beginning to water. "You'll let me stay?"

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed. "Of course!"

Nami was still holding onto him, so she alone heard what issued froth from his lips.

_...I love you guys."_

"Nanda?" Luffy blinked. "Did you say something?"

"Nope! Nothing!"

"Alright then, back to the ship!

And that would have been that...

...had it not been for a certain pirate.

"Zehahahaha!" A loud voice cackled. "Wait just a minute, you guys! That was certainly something back there." The quartet turned to find the large man from before, sitting just so, barring their path. As they looked on, he took a hefty bite of his pie and laughed, deep from his belly. "Man, oh man, this cherry pie really is the best. It tastes even better, after watching you beat the snot outta those little shits back there." Another glance was sent to the still-prone bodies of Bellamy and Sarquis, no one had dared make a move to extricate them from the earth.

"Its that guy again." Zoro murmurred.

Nami frowned. "What does he want with us?"

"Dunno." Luffy shrugged. "Anyway, lets not waste our time on him. Sky Island awaits!"

Naruto was in complete agreement.

"I'm all for that. Lets just go back to the ship...

"Oi oi oi, what's the rush?" another bite of the pie, flushed down by a hearty drink of rum. "Don'tcha wanna stay and share a drink with me for old times sake_...Naruto?"_

The blonde froze in midstep, slowly turning to regard he who had spoken. Something in his mind stirred at the sight of this man, this self-proclaimed "dreamer" sitting in front of them. Something dangerous. Wait...he knew him. He _knew _this man. He knew not how, or when, or why, only that he did. Unbidden, a memory rose from the black of his mind. Teach. Marshall D. Teach. He felt the hackles on the back of his neck rise, eyes widen, and breath hitch, his body instinctively responding to what he felt and recognized as an obvious threat.

"You...how do you know me?"

Teach affected another laugh. "Hey, I'm hurt! Dont'cha you recognize the man who saved yer life? Never woulda thought you'd be trying to get to Sky Island though...or get such a high bounty on your head! I'm proud of ya! Let's drink to that, eh?!" Before he could think to stop it, the hulking pirate flung a bottle of rum at him. Naruto snatched it out of the air with a deft hand, uncorked it with his teeth, sniffed to make sure it wasn't poisoned-one did never know with these people-and upon determining that it wasn't, drank deeply.

"Good stuff." he assented, tossing the bottle over his shoulder to Zoro. "But you never answered my question...how do ya know me?"

"Zehahaha," More of that eerie, boisterous laughter. "You really don't remember me, kid? Diddya hit yer head or something after the marines butchered your parents?" There was a silence broken only by Naruto's sharp intake of breath. "Oops!" Teach snickered. "Guess I wasn't supposed ta say that, huh?"

Nami gasped.

"Naruto...

"Nanda?" Luffy frowned. "Oi, blondie, do you know this guy or something?"

Said blond shook his head.

"I've never seen him before-

"Of he knows me!" Teach interjected. "He's my precious nephew, after all!"

_What?!_

Naruto hissed; Zoro was suddenly there to restrain him, his hand closing around the younger man's shoulder.

"Let it go." he soothed. "He's probably lying."

But Naruto couldn't let it go.

Something about the way Teach said those words...just set him off. Perhaps it was his lack of memories. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that this man clearly knew him, yet was deliberately witholding that information, dangling it just out of reach. Perhaps it was because this stranger claimed to have "saved" him once before. But from what? From Aokiji all those years ago? No. Robin would've mentioned someone like him of that much he was certain. But from what then? Whomever this Teach fellow was, whomever he claimed to be-he certainly didn't strike the hybrid as an ally, past or present. And now he was _insulting_ him. Claiming to be his uncle. Family. _But then again, if he's telling the truth-_

The sudden realization that he was even _considering_ this piece of human filth to be family brought a wave of rage to his mind with the ferocity of a great and dark tempest. Despite his opponent's seemingly innocuous attitude towards, despite Zoro looking in his eyes, pleading for him to stop, the anger won over Uzumaki Naruto and he yanked his arm out of his teacher's gentle grip.

"Don't you fuck with me, you bastard!" Naruto roared as he stepped forward, preparing to attack. He would kill this man. He would tear him in half with his bare hands. _Nobody makes a fool of me like that and lives_. He rushed forward with his a hiss, relishing the look of surprise and undisguised fear on his opponent's face. In that instant, he didn't care about serving Luffy and his crew-and he didn't give a _fuck_ about what an attack of this magnitude might do to the grandiose man still sitting in front of him. All he wanted to do was bring Marshall D. Teach down to his bloody knees.

And he did.

Naruto's fist cracked into Teach's jaw, holding nothing back. His knuckles _shattered_ from the sheer force of his strike, bone and muscle shearing in twine, reducing his right hand to a pulply mass of flesh in the blink of an eye. But in the same vein, his sudden and unexpected attack all but shattering the nose of his would-be uncle. _Snap. Crackle. Pop._ Teach's face twisted aside with a sickening _squuelch_, his nose reduced to a bloody smear of cartilege, his jaw hanging unhinged and dislocated-probably broken, too-like an open door. Naruto was suddenly past him, tumbling forward as his momentum sent him skidding across the street. His am was tingling something awful now that it had healed, but the thought was a mere trifle when compared to the knowledge that his opponent was in a far sorrier state.

_But he wasn't done yet._

A flick of the fingers raised a wall of earth around the captain of the Blackbeard pirates, another sharpened it into a horde of skewers. Still a third held them there in the air, forming a deadly semicircle of earth and stone edges to hemm Teach in. Pricking at his flesh. Promising pain at the slightest provocation.

"Don't. Move."

The pirate seemed to consider the earthen spears surrounding him, then he sighed.

"Alright, alright." he growled. "I get it.

Finally, the massive man made a noise equating to that of a snarl, garbled now by his ruinated jaw and twisted nose. With a sudden wrench of his wrist, he slotted his jaw back into place. And then he laughed. It was a deep, booming laugh, one that carried across Mock Town; it was a deep, throaty sound, one that put Naruto entirely ill at ease.

"Thatta boy!" his words were a confident bellow, a sharp contrast to the sorry state. "You're every inch like your old man; like my brother! If I gave you the chance, you'd kill me! You know what, I've changed my mind now." Dusting himself down he rose to his feet and swept out a hand, abruptly the the deadly weapons cutting into his flesh were gone, leaving him towering over the four of them like some black demon. "I'm gonna let you go, kid. Just this once. For old times sake. But the next time we meet, I'll be taking that head of yours. Nothing personal of course."

Once more, the superweapon found himself powerless to anger; he stalked forward again, rolling up a sleeve-

"Why you-!"

"Oi! Chotto matte!" Nami grabbed him from behind in a full nelson, forestalling his advance. "Stop! Don't let him get to you! We've already made enough of a ruckus today!" Although the navigator wasn't strong enough by any stretch of the imagination to stop him should he desire to break free, her words still held him. _Hadn't he done enough damage for one day?_ Naruto found himself taking a glance around the town; taking in all the shocked faces and collateral damage he'd caused, as well as the last remnants of Bellamy and Sarquiss's crew, furtively extracting their unconcious comrades, when they thought no one was looking. Although those two had certainly deserved his wrath, could the same truly be said of the man standing in front of him?

At long last, a long-suffering sigh emerged from his lips.

"You can let go now." he breathed, shrugging himself free of Nami's grasp. "I won't attack him." The redhead did so reluctantly-he could see in her eyes that she didn't trust him-not with this-not to explode the moment Teach tried to speak. Indeed, she didn't go far, ready to intervene again the moment he tried something.

"You want me to cut him up a little?" Zoro offered.

Luffy seemed to share the sentiment. "Ya know...I really wanna punch this guy all of a sudden."

"No, you guys." Naruto barely forced the word out between his teeth. "Nami's right. Leave him. Sky Island is more important."

"Yes, that's right!" Teach barked out another laugh and slammed his own bottle of rum down in front of them, nearly shattering it to pieces . "You're a dreamer, boy-just like Minato! That hasn't changed! Like he always said! People's dreams...NEVER END! AM I RIGHT?!" Once again, Naruto stubbornly quashed the urge to impale his supposed relative with another of his earthern spears. The only thing restraining him, was his promised words to Nami, that he wouldn't act out again. And he was nothing if not a man of his word. But that didn't mean he had to be happy about it.

"Get the fuck out of here." he hissed. "Before I decide to punch you again."

Grinning, Teach did just that, striding away. Abruptly he stopped in his tracks, his face slowly appearing over his shoulder as he curiously regarded his once former opponent. A look of amusement crossed his single eye as it regarded the seething pirate behind him.

"I hope ya make it there, nephew! Make it to the top so I can take your head!" he nimbly ducked when Naruto threw a portion of the bar at said visage, the massive chunk of building sailing harmlessly over his head to land in the sea in an explosion of mis and

_"Leave!"_

Cackling, lest he be caught unawares by another projectile, Blackbeard finally complied. Naruto glared after him, his eyes boring red hot coals into the man's back, that laughter still echoing after him. It was not untl he was absolutely certain that his tormentor wouldn't be coming back that he allowed his shoulders to sag.

"The hell was that about?" Zoro asked.

"I...don't know." Trembling, Naruto stared at his hands, unable to come to terms with what he'd just been told. "I just don't_...my head hurts." _He was shaking violently now, his entire body wracked with convulsions-his mind struggling-failinh-to understand the overwhelming information presented to him. An uncle?_ Teach?_ Something told him that man was dangerous, that he should have killed him when he'd the chance. And yet, he'd not, because somewhere deep down, despite all his anger, despite all his hate, he wanted to believe. More than anything else he wanted to have a family again. That was why he'd joined the Strawhats. Why he rejoiced at his reunion with Robin, and the slow return of his memories.

Slowly but surely, in the week that he'd spent with these unusual pirates, he'd come to think of them as a home away from home, a family to replace the one he'd surely lost. But now-for someone like Teach to claim to be his _uncle_ and for him to remain unknowing, uncertain of whether or not it was true...

...it was just too much. He was, for the first time since waking up on that god-forsaken island, having a mental breakdown. Memories slammed against one another, sights and sounds jumbling themselves together in a cacophony of chaos. Voices, some his own and those of others, jarred against his brain. Desperately, he clamped both hands down over his ears in a vain attempt to drown them outbut to no avail. Everything shrank to a pinpoint of brilliance, his eyes scrunching shut as his past threatened to overwhelm him.

And then it stopped. Just. Stopped.

**"Its okay."** a soft voice soothed from deep within the confines of his mind**. "Just relax. Open your eyes."** Warily, Naruto did so. And almost immediately found himself regretting his previous decision. Once more, he found himself face to face with the mysterious woman from before; facing the cage in his mind, standing ankle-deep in the brackish water. Her crimson eyes observed him with thinly veiled empathy-her full lips quirked upward in a slight, if not compassionate smile

"You again."

She nodded once, the motion sending her scarlet tresses bobbing from the motion. Those slitted eyes seemed to regard him a moment longer, the nine tails of her heritage,** (Remember chapter two, folks?)** swaying peacebly behind her body, said figure all but pressed up against the bars in an effort to reach him.

**"Come closer, please."** she beckoned, crooking a dainty hand in his direction. **"The lighting here is poor at best, and I would see you with mine own eyes."** Reluctantly, Naruto did as he was bid, approarching the caged woman as best he could, given the ear-splitting sounds in his skull. With each step taken toward her the agonizing pain lessened, until his back was no longer bowed with pressure, his spine no longer stricken with the unfamiliar sensations of his implants writhing out of control. Indeed, by the time he'd reached her, the pain was little more than an annoying buzz in the back of his mind. And yet at the same time, he was nigh but overcome with a sense of...nostalgia?

"I feel like I know you, somehow." the words escaped his lips on a whim; they sounded foolish, naieve. And yet they were true. He knew this stranger...

**"Ah."**

At his close proximity, the redhead visibly brightened. Her hand stretched out past the bars, fingertips straining upwards to caress his whiskered visage. **"How many day has it been since I last saw your face?"**

"I dunno...a week?"

**"And yet in that time you have grown so much, my dear Naruto."** likewise, her smile grew another inch. **"You have made new friends; found an old love, and possibly...even a family of your own?" **The ease with which she spoke to him was unnerving. Uncanny. And yet he was powerless to break away. Still, the stranger continued. **"Yet now you are suffering, calling into question what is real and what is not, struggling to determine fact between fiction. This Teach fellow has caused you such distress, as a result, some of your memories are in flux."**

"So all that bullcrap about Teach being my uncle is true, then?"

His words earned him a small, sad smile fron the fox-eared woman.

**"I can't tell you that."** she replied sorrowfully. **"My memories remain just as jumbled as your own. We do share a body, after all. Memories, too. I barely remember who _I_ am, let alone you. But I have seen you, and your exploits and like you, I have begun to remember who-or rather what-I am. I have remembered much; that I can ease your pain in times of stress- lend you power when needed most."**

Naruto understood. Or at least, he thought he did.

_"You...you're Pluton."_

She laughed at him then; rich and sultry in sound.

**"Hardly." **she snorted.** "Pluton may be what _you_ are_,_ but it doesn't change _who_ you are. Or what, for that matter, I am. And I am not Pluton. _That_ is a facet of yourself you must learn to control with on your own...without my aid."**

"Then just what-who-are you, exactly?"

This time, the smile was possibly the most sweetly, sinister thing he'd ever seen. Fingers fell from his face to his hand, brushing upon his roughened palm. Her eyes seemed to grow brighter with each passing second, a powerful current that held him spellbound, left him paralyzed.

**"That, my dear host, I can tell you. My name is..."**

With that, his world burst into brightness, leaving him with a single word.

_**"Kurama."**_

* * *

><p>Naruto came back to himself to find slender arms encircled him. He blinked slowly, lazily, struggling to see after finding himself in such low lightning.<p>

_What in the world...?_

He tilted his head back from the ball of pain that was still tearing at his brain, his eyes widening as he looked down into the face of Nami. When had this happened? His body was slumped forwards-as though he'd somehow collapsed...

"Erm...Nami-san?"

The navigator wasn't quite sure what exactly'd caused her to embrace the beleagured blond, only that she had. Maybe it was because for an instant, he looked imposisibly alone. Naruto made to effort to push her away, he'd practically crumpled into her arms before. Now he stood, straightened, hastily jerked backwards as though he were actually...embarassed?

"I...erm...thank you." Naruto was flushing.

The girl's face stood brighter than her hair. "D-Don't mention it!"

"I hate to interrupt," Zoro drawled, "But Luffy made a good point earlier while you were out?"

"Hmm"

_"What are we going to do about them?"_

Naruto waited a moment longer, tentatively recollecting his emotions, then he turned his attention back to Bellamy. The man could just be seen limping away with what little remained of his crew after the incident, but at the sight of Naruto's glare, he immediately faltered. Doubtlessly, he would be recalling his near-death experience for the rest of his life. Perfect. A slow smile spread across his face as he strode forward, snatching up a marker from his belt. Ohhhh yesss. This would be just the stress reliever he needed so desperately.

"C'mere, spring boy...

* * *

><p>As she walked up and down the streets of Mock Town, Robin could've sworn she heard laughter in the distance. Odd. It sounded as though it were coming from the opposite direction. Stranger still the streets seemed to have emptied out since she'd entered the clothing store. It was a small blessing, to become lost in thought without having to keep up the haughty facade she'd built up over all these years. Silently, she weighed each of her options, hat in hand.<p>

She had always been partial to the style ever since she was young; she felt it helped anchor her to who she had been as a girl-before all the corruption and ugliness of the world had transformed her into the woman she was now. Naruto's return had done much to scrub most of that filth away, but a small part of it was still present in Nico Robin's mind. Hence the worry.

She had learned of the existience of gold that may or may not have come from Sky Island. She had gotten a map, leading to the alleged gold. She had not told any of the Straw Hats anything she had discovered. Not in the slightest, and she wouldn't, until she was absolutely certain of her plans. Of what she would do, if things went sour.

Robin was still musing, so lost in her thoughts, that she nearly walked headlong into Bellamy. It wasn't all that difficult; the man was still being carried by his subourdinates, clearly no longer in any shape to fight with a wound like that. Indeed, the man looked as though his body had been through a blender, and that was putting it kindly. Despite this, or perhaps in spite of it, he still had the gall to spout a profainity at her as he limped his way past her and down the street, no longer under his own power.

"Outta the way, bitch!"

Robin momentarily considered the repercussions of breaking his neck; only to reconsider when she saw the fox-like whiskers scrawled acros the man's cheeks, alongside the gigantic L etched into his forehead in marker ink, most likely permanent. It was almost impossible not to recognize Naruto's handiwork; doubtless, he'd run into the rookie and decided to make an example of him. And...what an example he had made! Robin nearly burst into laughter just thinking of what he'd done, but extolling her satisfaction verbally was so much...sweeter.

"Ara," she chided with an arched brow, "whoever did this to you?"

Bellamy didn't even have the wherewithal to look chastised. He simply dragged himself free from his minions, balanced himself on his good limb, and spat another curse.

"Damn blond bastard broke my leg!" he seethed out between breaths. "I'll kill him! Tear 'em to pieces!"

Something twisted inside of her; all the good humour drained from her face. Kill Naruto? Never. She would not stand for such a thing.

"You want to – to kill him?"

Bellamy snarled his assent. "Yeah, I'll definitely obliterate him once I heal! I_**-?!"**_

His followers dropped like a sack of potatoes, Sarquiss and the others clutching at their now broken limbs. They would survive. Live to see another day. The Hyena himself would not be so lucky.

"The hell is this?!"

_"Veinte Fleur."_ **(Twenty Flowers)**

Bellamy's words had barely trailed off, before a horde of arms sprouted across his back and shoulder blades. A pair locked around his mouth, strangling whatever else he might've said. Several more wrapped around his neck and ankles, already beginning to bend him backwards despite his muffled protests. He begged for her to stop, but Robin simply raised her arms higher, crossing them before her bossom. All his protests fell on deaf ears, his beady little eyes widening as he realize what was about to happen.

"S-Stop-

Those words ended in a shrill squeal as Robin finishbed bending him backwards and squeezed. HARD.

_"Clutch."_

And so ended the pitiful life of Bellamy the Hyena.

Humming softly to herself, the archaelogist began to wander her way back toward the docks...

* * *

><p>Events transpired most rapidly after that...most satisfying kill. After meeting with Montblanc Cricket and acquiring a Southbird, they reached the Knock-Up Stream with time to spare. Naruto had been acting strangely withdrawn throughout the entire event, and although the archaelogist had resolved to ask him why, they simply hadn't had time. Until now. Now that they'd traversed the whirpool, only to land on harmless water, she finally chose to take the opportunity to speak with him. It had felt like a lifetime since they'd last spoken, when in reality it had only been a few hours.<p>

"Naruto...?"

The blonde blinked when she touched his arm, roused from his thoughts by her voice. His eyes seemed to glow in the lack of light-shimmering with an ungodly pallor. As though something were lighting them from deep within. Robin almost cringed aside at the sight. Almost, but her feelings for her fellow Oharan won out in the end. In the end, she held fast and drew closer staring at him until he finally recognized her. He started when her hip brushed his, the subtle promise of skin-to-skin contact momentarily dragging him from his daze.

"Robin." A slow smile pulled his lips upward. "Did you want something?"

"I wanted to warn you to hold on." already she could feel the ocean beginning to bulge beneath them. "And tell you...

"Tell me...?"

"That I've decided to trust you." It felt so freeing to say those words. Liberating, even. She understood it now, with him, she could dare to hope. To be safe...

Naruto's eyes softened.

"Robin...

That was when they saw it.

"Its the navy!"

Usopp's cry from the crow's nest sent that hope crashing down around her ears.

Marine sails.

Under normal circumstances, that would'nt have boded well for the Strawhats. But in this case, it was even worse. Not one, not two, not three, but _four _vessels could be seeon off the horizon, closing rapidly upon them with each passing second. And there, standing at the prow of the lead ship, in all his frosty glory...

_Aokiji._

Robin felt the air hitch in her throat. Beside her, someone let out a hiss and extended their arm.

"No! Don't!" Her warning fell on deaf ears, as Naruto raised a hand and opened fire on the warhsips; his fingers spitting light through the hole in his palm. Three of the warships instantly went up in flames and began to sink, their hulls catastophically breached, their massive sails and masts sent plunging down to Davy Jone's Locker. But the fourth had already drawn close enough for Aokiji to disembark. Fear turned to dread and dread terror as the marine admiral disembarked, leaping from the final vessel even as Naruto opened fire the ocean, freezing before his feet as he started towards them.

Naruto didn't hesitate either, he leapt down to greet him with a snarl, lightning flashing in his eyes. When he leapt, Robin felt her very soul leap with him. He was still wounded; he wouldn't survive another encounter in his current state. Surely he knew that, and yet...and yet...!

"Naruto!"

"Goodbye, Robin." he whispered and then he was gone, the earth rising to greet him, forming a solid cushion upon which he walked. It was almost impossible to believe but he he'd actually raised a portion of the ocean floor to compensate for his weakness, ensuring the soles of his shoes touched not water, but dry, solid land. Kuzan didn't slow his pace in the slightest; the only acknowledgement he made was to remove his right hand from his pocket, raised it high-

And thrust it down against the ocean floor.

**"Ice Age!"**

Their hopes froze with those words. So did the upper crust of the ocean.

Chopper squeaked! "Ah, Merry!"

"Hey, that's not fair!" Luffy whined! "We're about to go Sky Island! Don't interfere!"

"You won't be running this time, Nicooo_ooorgh?!"_

Once again, his opponent's words ended in a stangled gurgle as Naruto literally _yanked_ the ground out from under them, sending both man and earth pinwheeling backwards, shattering ice and exposing open water. In hindsight, was almost comical. A single shove was all that it would take took to send Aokiji into the water, but apparently the blond wanted to be absolutely certain. So he tackled him, locking both arms around Kuzzan sending him toppling into the hole he'd created. A savage twisted sacrificed those arms, within seconds they'd regrown thanks to the powers of the Iwa Iwa no Mi.

Robin watched him fall, dared to hope that the surprise factor would be enough-

It wasn't.

The patch of open water froze beneath Aokiji like all the rest, rendering Naruto's tactic all but useless.

"Ararara," the admiral heaved a hearty sigh of relief, "that was a close one. Now, I think it's high time we ended this, hmm?" He reached for Naruto, his long arm stretching towards the blonde's face-

"Clutch!"

Only for arms to sprout on every inch of his body and break him to pieces, courtesy of Nico Robin. Their respite was only momentary, short-lived as the frozen admiral rapidly restored himself, but it was enough. Taking a long moment to glare at the woman who'd slowed his advance, Kuzan started towards Naruto again...

...only to find the blond a great deal further away from _him,_ and much closer to the ship.

Naruto simply smiled.

"It doesn't matter; we've already won."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Frowning, Aokiji raised his good hand. "If I wanted, I could just freeze your entire ship-

Fate had other plans however. Just when it seemed all was lost, just when it seemed certain that the ice would envelop the Merry Go and leave her powerless for boarding, the Knock-Up Stream burst through the water with a deafening howl, sending the ship roaring upwards and out of the admiral's grasp. In that same instant, Naruto felt Luffy's hand lock around his shoulder and had time for one thought. Crap. Then momentum was his, the sheer force of the stram's velocity bodily hauling him backwards into Merry even as she shrieked into the heavens themselves.

In the distance, Montblanc Cricket watched the Knock-Up Stream soar into the clouds in a massive pillar of roaring cerulean water. The flying mode of the Going Merry, having escaped the marines by the skin of its very teeth, with no more than a single second to spare.

"Good luck, kids...

* * *

><p>What came next was pure chaos.<p>

"_WHAT THE HECK'S GOING ON?!"_

"_The ship's going straight up on a pillar of water!"_

"_This is neat~!"_

"_HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?!"_

"_Alright! Now we can go to the sky! Go, Merry!"_

There was a roar of wind, then Sanji's voice came back, sounding nervous. _"Hold on! I don't think it's gonna be that easy! The hull's starting to float! If this thing keeps up, we're gonna be sent flying to our doom!"_

"_W-What can w-w-we d-do?!" _ Usopp's lips were flapping so hard it sounded like he was standing in a wind tunnel. _"We can barely even hold on!"_

"_Hey, look! It's the Sea King from earlier!"_

The Strawhats watched the massive yellow-green beast hurtle past the Merry, back to its sure death on the ocean far below. "See?!" Sanji yelled. "It's only a matter of time before that happens to us!"

"AAAAAAAH!" Chopper screamed, his little reindeer eyes bugging as the shattered remains of an entire ship fell past their heads – broken barrels and splinters of wood smacking the Merry as it passed. "Lots of stuff is falling! Victims of the Knock-Up Stream!"

"We're goners, too!" Usopp wailed in despair. "We're gonna fall and slam into the ocean and die! And even if we don't, that admiral's waiting for us down there!"

Naruto promptly struck him on the head.

"Stop being so pessimistic! Trying looking on the bright side more often!

Nami gazed intently up into the monsoon. This was wind, and this was water. So maybe…! "Spread the sails! Right away!" the navigator cried.

"Eh?"

"This is the sea!" Nami explained hurriedly, her eyes flicking back to the section of the Knock-Up Stream still before them. "Not just a pillar of water! It's a rising current! And the wind blowing from below is a rising air current produced by the geothermal heat and steam explosion! If we're dealing with wind and sea, I can navigate it!"

She smiled confidently at the rest of the crew. "Who's this ship's navigator?"

The others stared at her for a long second, like they weren't sure if she was crazy or not. But Nami didn't waver… and sure enough, a moment later Sanji broke the silence with a heart-shaped eye and an adoring "You are, Nami-san!"

He turned to the others, his tone changing to that of authority. "Alright, men! Do what Nami-san says!"

"YEAH!"

The sails unfurled. "Catch the starboard wind and pull the helm to port!" Nami ordered. "Align the ship with the current!"

"YES, SIR!"

"Oh, no!" Chopper screamed, staring wide eyed over the banister. "The ship is about to leave the water!"

Even Luffy started to panic by that point. "We're gonna fall! We're gonna fall, Nami! Do something, Nami!" he screamed.

"No."

There was an intense look in the redhead's eyes. "We can make it!"

That was when – with one hard, splashing jolt – the Going Merry parted from the surface of the Knock-Up Stream and began to soar up the side of that giant wall of water. Wind and brine flew into their faces. The bottom dropped out of all their stomachs.

"WE'RE FLYING!" Luffy threw up both fists toward the sky. "AWESOME! THE SHIP IS FLYING!"

"Is this for real?" Usopp muttered privately to himself, disbelieving.

Nami smiled in relief. "We did it…"

Even Zoro looked impressed. "Wow!"

"Nami-san is wonderful~! _And I love you_!" Sanji fawned, bellowing his declaration of love at the top of his lungs.

With that, they breached the clouds.

* * *

><p>Aokiji watched them go with a shake of his head.<p>

Despite all effort to the contrary, Uzumaki Naruto and Nico Robin ahd slipped through his grasp once again. But they'd have to come back down, sometime. And when they did, the marines would be waiting for them, in true force. It was only a matter of time now. It didn't matter how resourceful they might be, how powerful they could become. They were just one crew of pirates; and as was the case with all pirates no matter how numerous or strong, they were powerless before the might of the World Government.

Sighing, he extracted a Den-Den-Mushi from his coat pocket and dialed in the number he'd been given.

_"So you failed."_ A gruff voice issued forth from the other end. It was not a question. Exhaling heavily, the icy admiral forced himself to utter the words he'd hoped to never have spoken...

"I'll accept your help just this once, Sakazuki...

* * *

><p>Blinding whiteness surrounded them all. It was too quiet, like everyone's ears had been stuffed with cotton. The air was warm, but it felt far too thin… too easy to breathe. Aboard the Merry, the Strawhats sucked at the oxygen-minus Usopp, who had passed out-hacking water from their lungs and feeling like they'd just been hit by a ten-ton truck. Sanji coughed loudly on one side of the deck. Robin gasped frantically, blue eyes wide in the wake of their terrifying ascent. Naruto shook himself like a wet dog, spraying everyone in droplets. Chopper whined pathetically.<p>

Zoro spoke first. "Damn…!" he cursed breathlessly, chalk white under his bronzed complexion. "What happened? Is everyone here?!"

Luffy sat up; apparently, their captain was the only one who'd remained unaffected. "Hey, guys! Look outside the ship!" he exclaimed, an excited look in his eyes and his usual big, banana-split grin on his face.

They obeyed, and were stunned by what they saw.

Sanji exhaled in awe. "What is this place?!"

"PUUUUUURE _WHITE_!" Luffy answered, grinning happily.

Everyone rushed to the rail, only to see that their captain was right! Like the brightly lit clouds on a sunny summer day, it was all fluffy, pure, cottony white… above them, under them, all around them! It was a fantastical view, like something out of a storybook.

"Clouds?!" Chopper squealed, overcome by excitement.

Nami was floored. "We're in the _clouds_?!" she exclaimed disbelievingly. "How are we staying on them?!"

Luffy looked at his navigator like she was a little weird. "Of course you can stay on them. They're clouds!" he said matter-of-factly.

Sanji and Chopper looked at him like _he_ was a little weird. "_No, you can't…_"

Suddenly, the little reindeer saw their sharpshooter's limp, unconscious body and started to panic. "GAAAH! Usopp isn't breathing!"

"_What_?! Do something! CPR!"

"Yosh! I'll give Nami-san CPR~!" Sanji declared.

Zoro stared flatly at the clouds. "Moron."

"USOPP, SAY SOMETHING!"

"Clouds…" the long-nosed sharpshooter whispered. Then he sat up, eyes bugging. "WHAAAAAAAAT?! These _are_ clouds! No, there's too many! _What is this_?!"

Nami, however, kept her head, gazing up at this fairy-tale phenomenon with a sailor's eye. "So… this is an ocean in the sky?" she murmured, still awestruck.

Usopp's jaw dropped when he looked over the railing. "An ocean…?! In the sky…?!"

Nami frowned thoughtfully and looked back at her log pose. The red end of the needle was at slightly less of an angle – maybe at 45 degrees now, versus the 85 or 90 from before – but it was still at an angle. "But look!" she declared, pointing this out to Robin. "It's still pointing upward."

"It seems we're in the middle section of the cumuloregalis clouds," their archeologist deduced.

"We need to go even higher?" Chopper asked her incredulously. "_How_?"

"That, I don't know."

The little reindeer adopted a pensive expression. "Hmmmm…"

Chopper went back to his sightseeing, happily drumming his hooves against the Merry's hull – partially because he had avoided such an awkward conversation and also because he was excited! They were finally above the clouds, after all! "Where is the sky island…?" he hummed, peering eagerly through his binoculars.

Suddenly, something else came into focus.

"Huh, a ship? A ship! Hey, you guys!" he called. "A ship… and a person?"

Chopper stared intently – it looked like the person was wearing a horned _mask_ of some sort – then suddenly his jaw dropped. "Eh?"

The ship had been blown to smithereens! And the masked person was heading their way! "_EH_?!"

Sanji glanced over. "Hey. What's wrong, Chopper?" he asked. The doctor whimpered, dropping the binoculars and falling backwards off the railing with a soft _poomp_. "Is there a ship out there, Chopper?"

Taken by surprise, the little reindeer jumped back onto the banister. "No, uhh, there was, but not anymore…!" he yelled hesitantly.

Zoro and Luffy stopped their cat-and-mouse chase across the deck. "Huh?"

Chopper started spazzing, his hooves flying every which way in an attempt to communicate. "Now there's a bull and it's running straight here, it's on…!"

"You're not making sense!" Zoro told him. "Calm down!"

"What's wrong with you?" Sanji muttered.

Then he glanced up. "Eh?"

Practically flying towards them was a mysterious guerilla. It was obviously a man – one with dark skin and a long, segmented braid that flew out behind the horned tribal mask that covered his face. His torso was lean and muscled, tribal tattoos covering his upper left pectoral and shoulder. The only articles of clothing he wore were a grass skirt – some wing-type decorations of some kind – and severed claws clicking on his rope belt. In one hand he held a long, narrow shield, and in the other what looked like a long silver bazooka; its grip gilded and etched in gold. He also wore some kind of skates that propelled him across the clouds with noisy jets of air.

"It's a person! Someone's coming!" the cook exclaimed. "He's running on the clouds!"

No sooner than he had uttered those words, the man jumped from the surface of the white ocean, rocketing towards the Merry. "Hey, stop! What do you want?!"

"To eliminate you!" the stranger promptly replied in a deep, gruff voice.

Sanji braced himself. "Looks like he wants to fight!"

Zoro thumbed Wado's guard in preparation to draw her blade. "Fine by me!"

"W-What's going on?!" Luffy yelped, confused.

Then the guerilla attacked.

Nami was appalled at the ease with which three of their crew's strongest fighters were so quickly defeated. "H-Hey! What's with you three?!" she demanded.

Naruto alone seemed unaffected by the atmosphere; of the four he could still be seen nimbly dodging the strange guerilla's attacks with almost punitive ease. No matter what tactics he tried or with how much strength he struck, the strange skylander simply couldn't seem to lay a finger upon the weaving warrior. It was almost as if he knew where the man would strike before he did it. Finally, the guerilla seemed to grow tired of that, failing to strike down the bedeviled blond in close combat, he leapt up and away.

The masked guerilla sprung off the deck again, jumping high into the air and centering the crosshairs of his bazooka-like weapon on the Going Merry.

"KYAAAA, HE'S GONNA SHOOT US!" Chopper wailed, eyes bulging.

"Sky Island scary… Sky Island scary…!" Usopp moaned.

"Hai hai," Naruto agreed, "That's enough. Can't have you damaging the ship. Coffin-time!"

Scarce had he spoken than the man found himself entrapped within a coffin of compressed earth, shattering his mask to piesces, binding his arms uselessly to either side. Naruto held him there for what felt like a small eternity, tightening the loamy noose around the guerilla's body. Restrained as he was, the man He couldn't even fire his weapon, his finger clicking uselessly at the trigger. A flick of the wrist took him back to the Merry, lowering him to the deck in a heap. He really didn't look that intimidating without the mask, Nami surmrised...

Just like that, it was over.

"Release me, Blue Sea Dweller!" the guerilla demanded, his eyes blazing fiercely. "I demanded you release me at once!"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Naruto tittered softly, eyes narrow and filled with glee. "Before I do any releasing," Something in that gaze filled Wiper's very soul with fear.

_"We've got some questions for you..._

* * *

><p><strong><strong>AN: Aaaaaand there you have it! A lot has changed now that Naruto has joined the crew; for starters, Aokiji is going to regularly harass Naruto and Robin, as I'm sure you've begun to realize. But that isn't the only change, Naruto's strange relationship with Blackbeard complicates matters, is the man lying, or isn't he? Additionally, the marines sent after our beloved crew won't be nearly as incompetently useless; thanks to Naruto's escape the marines now deem the Strawhat crew to be a great deal more dangerous and as such, only the very best will be pursuing them. That entails a great shift from canon. Additionally, we may be getting another crew member from Skypiea! I won't say who! But it should be kinda obvious...and it aint' Wiper!****

**And with that, I'm off to work once more! Hope ya'll enjoyed the update! I sincerely look forward to your reviews on this chapter when I return! **

**So in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...review, would you kindly? And enjoy this little preview of a certain event to come...if you've seen the Avengers, you'll probably be laughing your ass off in a few seconds...**

**(Preview(s)**

_Naruto found himself face to face with an angel. Literally. Her heartshaped face from which deep green eyes shone, framed by those fine flaxen locks. She smiled at him, her lovely lips curling ever so slightly._

_"Heso." she greeted them with a bright grin. Welcome to Skypiea!"_

* * *

><p><em>Enel couldn't believe what was happening. He was losing. He! A God! An almighty being! Embued with the power of Lightning itself! To a Blue Sea Dweller! All these sights sounds and more passed through his mind as he stared at his new opponent, this enraged blonde, his visage twisted in a rictus of fury. This was...absurd! And what was this form that he had taken?!<em>

_Enraged, he thrust his staff at the towering titan looming over him._

_"Enough!" he roared! "You, Blue Sea Dweller, are beneath me! I am a God you dull creature, and I will not be bulled by the likes of-_

_Naruto growled, a deep snarl issuing forth from his throat._

**_Ground._**

_Enel's words ended in a small squeak of pain as the blonde reached down, grabbed him by the arm, and made his face intimate with the vearth in a way that no man desires._

_"Puny...God!"_

**R&R! =D**


	7. Here Amidst the Clouds

**A/N: Alright ladies and gentlmen, good news and bad news. Good news first. I'm fresh out of ANOTHER surgery-hurts like hell. Bad news. Things aren't looking well for me. My health has been in decline as of late, my girlfriend's all but left me because of it, and I'm still jobless. And to top it all off, I've just been informed that my grandmother's in the hospital, and she might die. Ain't that just peachy?! *Takes a deep breath* Alright then, enough of the rant, ya'll are here for the story, not the rambling of a man potentially on his deathbed.**

**Anywho,I managed to put this up here at points between the forced anesthetic. Bad news is I still have more surgeries ahead. Still, I'm feeling a bit better now. Really. ****I'm hanging tough though, despite everything life is throwing at me. Despite all that's happening, I don't intend to die quietly in a bed somewhere! And on that note I should give you fair warning, some changes have been made here to keep things interesting, folks. So with that...**

**...onto the next chapter! And remember: I! Own! NOTHING! Remember! This is rated M now!**

_"Seek, and ye shall find."_

_~?_

**Here Amidst the Clouds**

"Release me this instant, Blue Sea Dweller!"

"Nope."

"Why?!" the warrior growled, struggling fruitlessly against his bonds. "I've answered all your questions! Now let me go!"

"Don't wanna~."

Wiper growled, deep and low in his throat. "Damnit!"

"Oi oi, damning me won't change anything. You attacked _us_ remember? You should be glad you were captured, instead of killed." Between the chaos of capturing the guerilla and meeting the Knight of the Sky, Gan Fall of "Wierd Knight" as Luffy had taken to calling him.

_That_ earned him another curse.

"Gods, man, you really do have a foul mouth...

"How's our guest?"

"Still loud and mouthy." Naruto replied with a smile as Robin descended the stairs to the galley. "Hasn't told me anything new, either." That same smile grew as her hip brushed his in passing, a subtle reminder of intimacy. She'd grown strangely affectionate ever since they'd made it up here, he'd noticed. More open with her emotions. Almost clingy, in a sense. But not quite. It was as if someone had simply flicked a switch somewhere in her brain, and now she was more than willing to remind him just where she stood in their rapidly budding relationship.

Unbidden, he recalled her words of yesterday, mere moments before Aokiji's attack.

_"I've finally decided to trust you."_

What did that mean? Had she not trusted him before this? A host of questions still lurked in the black of his mind; what had she been to him before he'd lost his memories? What had he been to her? He knew they both hailed from Ohara, but beyond that...everything was foggy. So wouldn't that mean–

"Curse you!"

For once, he was grateful for Wiper's mouth. It gave him an excuse not to think on the tentative subject of Nico Robin.

"Curse?" Naruto wiggled his eyebrow's in the archaelogist's direction, feigning ignorance. "I feel blessed!"

She felt the smallest smile grace her lips as the two continued their fruitlessly amusing bickering; the Shandian helpless to do anything but thrash within Naruto's coffin of earth and sand. He'd told them a great deal, his answers had been quite forthcoming when she'd threatened to crush his family jewels. But truthful or no, that didn't make then any less disturbing. His peoples_-the Shandians_-long war with those of that so-called current God, a man known as Enel and his priests over a place called "Upper Yard" was one thing. Their ancestor, Calgara, was another. This was all very fascinating, and had they more time, Robin would've liked to pose a few inquiries of her own, but as it stood they were out of time.

She'd come down here to let him know they'd finally sighted land-or what amounted to it on Sky Island-and that it was time to decided. Would they release Wiper or keep him locked up down here? Luffy had admittedly lost interest in their captive after the first dozen or so questions and Usopp seemed taken on the man's bazooka, initially leaving it to Naruto and Zoro to wring out the information they desired from the Shandian. Thatd been nearly three hours ago. Currently, the swordsman was being tended to by Chopper-as it turned out, Wiper wasn't willing to speak to anyone but the man who had captured him in the first place. And equally willing to lash out at anyone else who dared approach him.

Where it not for Naruto's coffin of earth and sand, the Shandian might've broken free long ago...

"Release me!" Wiper demanded for the upteenth time, jarring her attention back the present. "Now!"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Naruto tittered softly and leaned forward, his eyes narrow and filled with glee. "Before I do any releasing," Something in that gaze filled Wiper's very soul not with fear as before-but with hope, "You should tell me more about this Enel. What does he look like? Why are your people so afraid of him?"

"We are not afraid!"

_"Really?"_ Robin finally chose to join the conversation-her mellifluous voice gently interposing itself amidst the guerilla's angry shout. "Where we come from only one of two things could keep two cultures at war for more than four hundred years. Fear or hatred. So, which is it?"

"Oi oi, Robin. Ease up."

"Hm?" The archaelogist looked over at Naruto. Her fellow exile leaned over, holding her gaze – and pointed at Wiper, bright eyes turned questioningly to her dark ones. Naruto ruthlessly ignored the unspoken questions hidden there in his lover's gaze and brought his attention the warrior once more.

"What do you plan on doing to him? Tell me those things, and we'll release you."

Wiper glowered murderously at the blonde, but remained tightlipped.

"Have it your way." Naruto sighed. With a flick of his wrist he banished his coffin from the waist down, removing the hardened soil to expose the warrior's groin. "Robin?"

Wiper blanched.

"What're you doing?!"

Perched on the counter, the archeologist crossed her arms elegantly, dark hair flowing in an unseen wind summoned by the powers of her devil fruit. "Certainly, Naruto-kun," she replied. _"Dos Fluer_!"

Wiper snarled impotently as a pair of hands sprouted from his nether regions, his stern features knotting in anger as he realized what the archaelogist intended to do. He thrashed valiantly against the coffin that snared the upper half of his body but to no avail another host of hands sprouted from the deck to entrap his legs before he could buck free. And still, those hands twitched forward, inching toward his precious family jewels, to inflict a fate no self-respecting man would wish upon even his worst enemies. By Calgara, she was about to:

_"Grab!"_

**_"YEEEEEAAAAAAARGGH!"_ **Wiper's booming roar shook the Merry to her very foundations, a massive tremor ripping its way through the already battered hull. Only a few decks aboves, the remainder of the Mugiwara crew craned their heads toward the sound, each wondering what'd been the cause for the warrior's heartwrenching wail. Sanji and Zoro simultaneously cringed, wholly in agreement for perhaps the first time since they had met one another. Usopp merely cringed, a silent shiver shooting down his spine. Luffy, being Luffy, tried to investigate, only to receive a simultaneous smack over the head by the entire crew for his efforts.

"Don't go down there, baka!"

Meanwhile belowdecks, Robin calmly opened her hands, slender fingers removing the pressure that'd nearly crippled the Shandian mere moments before. Wiper lay upon the ground, little more than a pale, shuddering wreck. Talk about below the belt. Going for the family jewels was perhaps truly was the worst thing you could do to a man. Granted, Robin had been the one to bestow that misery, Naruto found himself almost wincing, even though he'd been the one to order her to do it.

"Have you changed your mind?" he asked at last.

Wiper reserved enough strength to rasp out a single word.

"Ruthless..."

"Only when I have to be." Naruto bit back, a shard of memory poking at his heart. "I hope you don't think less of me for it." _Ruthless._ How many times had he been called that now? It served as a constant reminders of just how far the World Government would go to get at him and Robin; if they were willing to obliterate an entire island they wouldn't hesitate to strike at those dear to them. They might be strong in mind and body, but they were weak at heart. Though he'd like to think otherwise in all likelihood it would take a single threat against him and the others to make Robin cave; she...valued them too much to risk their safety. The same could be said of him.

Although he might not be captain of this crew, he understood the necessity of going to extreme heights to keep his fellow nakama safe. And if that made him ruthless...so be it. An errant thought encased Wiper in earth again, another hoisted him up against the wall none too gently. He pressed his forehead against the man's, words little more than a growl.

"You think you're the only one to have lost something?"

"I-

Naruto slammed an open palm into the wall with enough force to shatter the wood, effectively cutting him off.

"I too, know what its like have something taken from you." he continued with a hiss, earning an intense glare from the humbled Shandian. "I suppose we have that we have that in common. And like you, I've dedicated my life to reclaiming what I've lost. The difference is, _I_ know when to ask for help."

Robin quirked a brow at that. Was he speaking of Ohara or his amnesia? Perhaps both? Naruto had never been the most cheery of children back in their youth but he was easily the most vehement. Her first friend, now turned lover only a few days after their reunion. The thought sent a tingle of warmth through her belly, one she reluctantly dismissed as the blond continued to interrogate the Shandian.

"So what's it gonna be, ponytail?" Naruto drawled, making light of the man's hair once more. "Ya gonna spill the beans or not?

Wiper leered at them a moment longer. Finally he slumped. Then, decision made, he raised his gaze.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"I'm a man of my word." Naruto replied. "Besides, I'm not the sort to torture people overlong. You tell us what we want to know, and you're free as a bird. I promise. Hell, if Enel's this much of an asshole as your sayin' he is, I'm sure our _senchou _would be more than happy to kick his ass." The sharp crack of his knuckles filled the air. "Assuming I don't do get to 'em first."

"On your honor?"

The blond thumped his chest for emphasis.

"On my honor."

"Hrmph," Wiper snorted, but the sound was slightly lacking in rancour this time. "A pirate who values their honor. I wasn't aware such a thing existed."

"Well I wasn't aware bazooka-wielding madmen existed _either_, so let's leave it at that." Naruto replied drolly.

The Shandian laughed at that; it was a hoarse, throaty sound.

"Very well, Blue Sea Dweller. If you and your woman are as interested in our history as you claim," Naruto wisely chose not to object to that when he saw Robin's cheeks color, "then perhaps...I may consider you allies, for the time being."

"Your consideration is appreciated. So what's your plan?"

Another grunt.

"We will avenge our ancestors," this ground out between clenched teeth. "And take back what is rightfully ours. But before that...Enel will die. Not at your hand, but mine–

"Meaning?" Robin tilted her neck aside.

_"I will take his head!"_

The sheer vehemence in that statement took both the super-weapon and archaelogist aback. At length, the warrior quieted and explained.

"Goro-Goro no mi?"

"Yes," Wiper grunted in answerment to Naruto's question. "He's a devil-fruit user, like you. _Logia. _Wields the power of lightning. Combined with his mantra, he is a deadly foe."

"Mantra?"

In the next five minutes, the Shandian roughly outlined what his people had come to call _Mantra._ Also known to Naruto as Kenbunshoku Haki. At times he could sense things, perhaps even predict them, but unless he'd mastered the remaining two before losing his memories, that seemed the extent of his willful prowess.

It was so strange, retaining most-if not all-your skills yet remembering virtually nothing of your past life. To have all these skills, in addition to his recently acquired fruit, His skill with Haki notwithstanding, what he'd just learned was most troubling. Enel, could observe the entire island with haki alone? And these so-called "Priests" of his were no less of a threat? Lovely. It seemed they'd escaped the frying pan on Jaya, only to be thrown into the fire here in Skypiea.

"And despite this, you still think you stand a chance."

The man's visage resolved itself into a stoic rictus.

"I will do what I must."

"You'll die." Robin added drolly.

"If that is what it takes to end Enel, then so be it."

"And I thought I was crazy." Naruto turned aside, shaking his head. "Look, I guess we can just release him. I mean its not like he can-

In that brief instant of inattention, his bare foot brushed the skate-like apparatus Wiper wore on his left foot. Naruto caught himself without even looking, his fingers wrapping around the counters for support. That was when the weakness came. It was...horrible. As though all his strength was simply being sapped away, leaving him little more than a sundered shell. "Naruto!" Robin's voice jerked him back to reality, his body suddenly in motion, staggering-flailing-backwards in a desperate attempt to get away from whatever was weakening him. It didn't take him long to realize what had caused it.

"Damn!" The blond growled, rubbing his numbed foot. "You've got seastone in those skates, dont'cha? Clever. So that's how you plan to take care of Enel."

The warrior allowed himself a wary smile. He couldn't recall the last time an enemy had complimented him. Much less a Blue Sea Dweller.

"So long as you stay out of my way...

"Hai, hai." Naruto waved him off with an easy laugh. "Whatever happens, you'll get the first shot at him, I promise. But I can't promise anything about Luffy...

"I'll hold you to that."

_"Naruto! Robin!"_ Nami called their names from above the deck. _"We've hit land!"_

"Oh? What's it look like?!"

_"Come see for yourselves!"_

"Sheesh, old man Cricket woulda loved to see this." Naruto mused as he undid the earthen bindings holding the proud fighter in place. "Sky Island, in all its glory. I wonder if that golden bell is really up here...

Wiper blinked.

"Cricket?"

"Yes, Montblanc Cricket. Why?" Robin interjected, a curious gleam in her eye.

"...did you just say Montblanc?"

"Yeah...?" Naruto frowned.

"Was his ancestor named...Norland?"

The pair exchanged a glance; were those _tears_ in Wiper's eyes just now?

"Yes."

"And you came up here to prove Montblanc right?"

Naruto paused a beat, weighing his answer.

"Well, Luffy was more interested than me, but...

"So its true, then." the man murmurred, his throat suddenly hoarse. "Even after all these years, the Fire of Shandia...

What happened next was nothing short of extraordinary. Released from his bonds the proud Shandian stood with a supreme effort of willpower, stepped forwards, and grabbed Naruto by the forearm. Naruto recognized the gesture almost immediately and returned it; even at a distance of ten thousand meters, some traditions were simply a way of life. The men shook as Robin looked on, one wore a fierce grin, the other, a picturesque expression torn somewhere between shock and surprise.

"It seems I was wrong about you, Blue Sea Dweller." Wiper rumbled. "You have more than mere honor; you've pride as well." He intensified his grip for emphasis, a smile ghosting over his mouth. "Perhaps you were a Shandian in a former life?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to smile. "Maybe."

Robin gestured, one of her many hands swung open the door leaving the winged warrior to advance towards it.

"Ah, before I forget!"

Naruto scrambled in his pocket for a den den mushi, tossing the inert device to Wiper. The man regards the small snail with some confusion, a touch of disdain. He turned it end over end, eyeing its yellow skin and nigh but wondering at its function; that is, until Naruto's voice issued forth from its tiny mouth.

_"Moshi moshi? Is this thing on?"_

"By Calgara!" Poor Wiper, he nearly dropped the receiver! "What foul sorcery is this?!"

"Its not sorcery," Naruto grinned, holding up his snail and speaking through it. "Its technology. We can communicate using this."

"...and why would you give me such a thing?"

"So we can keep in touch, of course! From what you're telling me, Enel has a small army behind him, and that's without the priests," he ammended with a look bordering on outright sadism, "You'll need all the help you can get, ya know? More bodies for me to knock around, anyway."

Wiper and Robins simultaneously shook their heads; the former baffled by the blonde's bloodlust, the latter bemused that said blond still had such a mean streak in him when it came to facing injustices. Whomever this Enel character was, Goro-Goro mi or no, he wouldn't like it if Naurto got his hands on him. Or Luffy for that matter, if her theory was correct...

"Use that to keep in touch." Naruto finished with a smirk, ushering the Shandian out of the galley and above decks.

"Wherever did you get a pair of den den mushi?" Robin asked, following him.

Naruto faltered, a bead of sweat dripping down his brow.

"I, ah...may have _borrowed_ some, back in Mock Town."

"How many?"

He jostled his knapspack quietly.

"Oh say...about a half a dozen pairs."

Still smiling, he laughed strode and strode up the stairs...

...and emerged amidst a sea of white.

"HOLY?!"

That was what the scene before him was tantamount to. He found himself staring at an island formed entirely of cloud. Angel Beach, the sign read. Heaven, he said! He could see the crew scattered across the shoreline doing their own thing; evidently since anchoring Merry Go Nami and the others had gone their separate ways. He could see Luffy and Usop hurling a ridiculously hard fruit at one another, Zoro appeared to be tempering his blades on a nearby tree, ascertaining whether or not they'd lost their edge. Nami was busying herself with a map, whilst Chopper delighted in rolling around on the fluffy cloud. And Sanji...

...was just being Sanji. Naruto shook his head in disbelief. Didn't that man ever stop?

"I'll take my leave, then." Wiper spoke suddenly, his clipped tones conveying he'd had enough for one day.

"Adios." Naruto snapped of a sarcastic salute in the direction of the retreating warrior. "Oi, don't forget to call before you start your little raid!" The Shandian bristled slightly, but otherwise said nothing. Instead he leapt off the galleon, knees bending to absorb the impact. His sudden return did not go unoticed

"What?!" Luffy sprung in front of the man and threw up his fists at the warrior. "What the hell are you still doing here, guerilla?!" he demanded of him. "You wanna fight?! Bring it!"

"Tch." Wiper's only response was to leap back onto the White-White sea, skates flaring. Within seconds he was gone, little more than a distant speck on the horizon. Naruto idly noted that he'd taken the den den mushi after all. Good. That made everything that much easier. Kami, he was actually excited at the prospect of taken down, well_...Kami!_ The irony wasn't exactly lost on him. Still the idea of fightning someone not hellbent on _justice _was a welcome changed. Even if that someone did claim to be god.

"Now that _that's_ decided,"

**(WARNING! LEMON SCENE APPROACHING!)**

Naruto barely had time to register those words, and that husky tone, before Robin did something with one of her many hands, dragging him belowdecks and back into the galley-slamming the door and locking it neatly behind the prone form of Wiper. He had even less time to realize that she'd taken his whiskered visage in hand before she drew their lips together. Their mouths met with a sudden ferocity, her tongue tangling with his. The sheer suddeness of her kiss took him aback despite his best efforts, he only managed to rouse himself when her hands trailed at the edges of his shirt, her lips leaving him momentarily to pull it over his head. Her own followed suit not an instant later, the black lace of her bra hanging there temptingly for him to see.

Chills ran down Naruto's back that had nothing to do with the temperature. "You can't be serious. The others are right outside-

"So?"

In a single fluid motion, she laid a hand on the logia's muscular shoulder, leaned up to his ear–purposefully pressing her breasts against his hard bicep so that they swelled up against her bra–and whispered in the most seductive manner possible:

_"I want you now."_

"Robin," Naruto bristled as she kissed him again, his common sense beginning to fade, "The feelings is mutual, but...

"But?"

Naruto hesitated a moment longer before desire finally overcame logic.

"Ah, fuck it." he grumbled. "Its not as if anyone would care."

"Good boy." she purred into his neck as his hands surepitiously dipped beneath her rear, hoisting her up to him in the same instant that her legs wrapped themselves round his waist, securing their bodies together. Her hair tickled at his nose in sweet temptation, ebony tresses carrying with them the scent of seas and summers in one gorgeous gust. _She's not wearing her hat anymore, _he realized abruptly as she dipped down to claim him in another breathless kiss, the white material of her cherished possession was nowhere to be seen neither here in the galley nor in the as they half-walk, half-stumble back to her room between kisses.

They'd just made it to the bed when Naruto realized he'd left his shirt back in the galley. As had Robin. _Fuck._ Sanji would have a fit over that. Actually, fuck Sanji._ If he wanted to complain about something so menial as my shirt then he can go to hell. Besides, its not like he can do a damn thing about WHOA!_

Naruto moaned contentedly as Robin pushed more of her weight into him, straddling him, striking him of all thought pertaining the cook. Desire sparked to life within him; his mind exploding into white as his arms took control, spreading themselves across her back and drawing her close, then closer still. Her purple pants crumpled in a heap on the ground, leaving her clad only in her undergarments. Naruto croaked out a laugh when he realized he was still wearing his _pants_, whereas Robin had already lost nearly half her clothing. Why did this feel so nostalgic?

"Something funny?"

"Nah," Naruto's expression remained placid. "Just...thinking about things."

Robin had the feeling they were no longer speaking about the past, and she was utterly unprepared for this. She straddled Naruto lap before he could utter another word and the hybrid melted into her touch-skin visibly prickling as he writhed beneath her fingertips.

"Ara, what's the matter with you, Naruto-kun?" she teased, hoping to distract him. "You're making me do all the work."

"It nothing." he growled under her ministrations, ammending his statement a heartbeat later. "I'm...not used to you taking charge."

She laughed at that one, peals of bell-like amusement wafting into his ears.

"Then by all means, try and take control."

Naruto met her challenge gladly, undoing her bra with a practiced hand and added it to the pile of clothes on the floor, sparing only a moment to drink in the sight of this wicked woman draped over him before placing a series of hot kisses along her breast, trailing upwards across her neck in a series of slow circles. Robin's startled gasps proved nothing short of glorious, her back arching at the subsuquent of her flesh. Glorious. Nothing else could describe this moment, how utterly _right_ it felt to be here, with her, in this moment, clandestine though it might be.

It also reminded him just how unworthy he felt of her affections sometimes; how could she love him when _he_ could barely even remembe her, let alone their past together when they were young? Sometimes it made him wonder. As

His moment of introspection was short-lived however, as a hand sprouted from his chest and twisted his visage up to hers.

"Lips," Robin hissed, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps, her arms drapped around him as another of her phantom her hands fiddled with his belt. It was a demand, laced with need. And there was just something so damn _hot_ about it.

Naruto ran his tongue along her bottom lip–again slightly disappointed that she didn't taste like the summery scent he'd come to identify her with. That emotion wafted away when she finally found the release upon his belt and tore it away, his pants followed several seconds later, leaving him clad in nothing more than his boxers. Not one to be outdone he reached up towards her thong and made a deft snipping motion with his finger in the precise movement severing the thin line of fabric that held it and, sending the last of Nico Robin's undergarments fluttering away.

"So impatient," she murmurred, trailing a series of kisses along his jawline.

"Can you blame me?"

_...I can't say that I can."_

Naruto bucked before trying to wrestle control of the proceedings back, but Robin pinned him down to the bed, locking onto his hips with powerful thighs. He gave a throaty moan as she kissed her way down pale, smooth flesh, brushing her lips over the controversially acquired shoulder scar and over the curve of his biceps. He used his fingertips to tickle the spot just under Robin's ribs in retaliation and got a loud giggle in response. Well that was new. Robin never giggled. Ever. That she'd done so now almost had him laughing. Of course she used that chance to rip away his boxers, shredding the precious orange garment.

The next thing he knew she was lowering herself onto him, her hips undulating in slow, gentle movements. Naruto's eyes nearly rolled back in his head. Yet another perk of their relationship; sex with Nico Robin was all but mindblowing. He'd discovered that his first night on the Merry, and a third time did precious little to change his mind. If anything, it was even better; because with time, came experience. He arched his back and thrust up into her, silently urging his fellow exile to increase the tempo. Robin proved more than happy to comply.

"N-Naruto!"

"Robin...

But it was at that precise moment – with no warning whatsoever – that Sanji slammed the door open and swept inside with a flourish. "Robin-chwan!" he sang, "I made you a...

And then he saw it.

Sanji turned to stone. "_Kuh_…!"

His jaw dropped as he beheld a naked Nico Robin stradling an equally naked Naruto. Seeing them together was one thing. But to walk in precisely when Robin came...

Something went nuclear. "_**GYAHHHHHHHHH! MY EYES! THEY BURN!**_"

The blonde staggered back into the hallway, his hand over his chest as though he were physically in pain. It didn't last; his fury overcoming the shock at what he'd seen. "_**WHAT THE SHITTY HELL IS THIS?!**_"

Naruto grabbed the first thing within reach; it just so happened to be a book.

**_"OUT!"_**

The projectile flew straight and true, striking the cook dead center between the eyes with a solid "thwack!" before he could try and get another word-or a leg-in the door. Even as the book made its malevolent mark on the blond's forehead a _thousand_ hands sprouted out of nowhere and violently closed it in his face with such force that the archway actually _cracked._

_Slam!_

The doors shut before Naruto could find another book, and the final word sent a wiggling jolt through him. He couldn't control the grin that pulled at his face and grabbed a pillow to smother the laugh that spilled out. A second later, Robin's laughter joined him.

"I never used that many hands before," she gasped, utterly exhausted as she slumped against him.

"Kinky." Naruto couldn't supress a snicker, one that trailed off when he noticed blood had stained its cover, a few droplets actually worming their way into the pages. An errant thought ushered the novel back to her by one of her many hands, but it was clear the sheer velocity of Naruto's throw had done more damage than she would've appreciated.

"I liked that book." she pouted, gingerly setting it down on the mantle.

"I'll buy you a new one."

Robin smiled at that, and the entire room seemed to glow.

"Now that he's gone, shall we continue?"

He gave an embarrassed chuckle and snuggled her forehead. "Definitely."

* * *

><p>"There you guys are!" Luffy shouted as they finally emerged from belowdecks and disembarked nearly an hour later. "What took you so long?!"<p>

"Sorry, captain." Robin demurred with a slight smile. "Where's Navigator-san?"

"Ah, she went out somewhere on the Waver." Zoro answered for his captain, creaking open one bleary eye to regard his protege and the archaelogist. "Luffy's right though, where have you two been? That shitty cook came out of there looking like a ghost, earlier." Naruto almost laughed when his mentor fixed him with a pointed stare. "You wouldn't happen to know about that, would you?"

Try as he might, the blonde couldn't quite contain his own mirth.

"No no no, not all. We...we...

Naruto gasped and found those very words sticking in his throat as he stood face to face with_...an angel._ Literally. Her heartshaped face from which deep green eyes shone, framed by those fine flaxen locks. And there, at her back, far larger than those of Wiper, wings. Large, yet small enough to be folded against her back. Were they real, he wondered? Could she fly with them? That aside... he really was looking at an angel! The only thing missing was the halo! She smiled at him, her lovely lips curling ever so slightly as she laid eyes upon the two them.

"Heso." she greeted with a bright, cheery grin. "I don't believe we've met? Welcome to Skypiea!"

"I...um...

"Oi." Zoro hit him on the head. "You're staring."

Naruto shook himself with an effort, expecting to find Robin's gaze boring into his back at any moment. What he found there was only the slightest of smiles-damnit, she was enjoying this! It was rare for him to find his tongue-tied like this, perhaps even more uncommon to find that his friend/lover was bemused by his plight.

"You came up from the Blue Sea?"

"Aye," Naruto fought the urge to fidget, "We came up from below." For some strange reason this angel_-Conis-_had gravitated to him, instead of the others. And for some reason he couldn't stop staring. Not just at those damnably cute eyes of hers-green had always been his favorite color-but at those wings as well; ironically, those white feathers had captured his attention from the very beginning. There was just something so damned fascinating about them...

"Ano...why are you staring at my wings?"

Naruto shook himself, realizing he'd been rude. _Baka!_

"Ahahaha, its nothing." this, lied through his teeth. "I was just curious."

"Curious?"

A laugh.

"You'll think I'm stupid."

"Please, ask."

"Well," he admitted sheepishly, "I was wondering if you could...fly, ya know?"

"Me?" the young angel blinked, her head cocking quizically. "Ano...yes, I can fly, but...

"But?"

"I'm unique."

"Unique?"

"I-I don't like to talk about it." she admitted, seeming to fold inward on herself. "I've been teased. Made fun of. No one else on Angel Island has wings like _this."_ She spread them for emphasis and Naruto nearly lost his footing then and there. He'd underestimated a bit, her wings were indeed larger, but they were bigger than he'd thought they'd be. Much bigger. They spread outward on either side, casting her in great golden relief as the sun shone down upon them. By all means she should be proud of such a wingspan; anyone able to soar through the skies under their own power had every right to do so.

"Beautiful." the word escaped his lips before he could think to bite it back.

Connis flushed and tucked her wings back in.

"Arigatou...

"Ya sure you didn't eat a devil fruit or something?"

"I almost wish I had." Conis replied in a tinny voice. "At leas then, I'd have an excuse. But no...they've always been like this."

"Hey, you're not the only unique one here." Naruto tittered softly, amused by her embarassment. "Lets see," he began to count off on his fingers, "Luffy can stretch, Zoro sleeps all the time, Nami's an ex-thief, Sanji is an ardant loverboy, Chopper's a talking tanuki-

"I'M A REINDEER, YOU BASTARD~!"

-talking _reindeer,"_ he ammended at the doctor's shout, "Robin can sprout any part of her body anywhere she pleases, and I..." he wasn't quite sure what made him do what he did; but instead of explaining the nature of his own fruit, he opted to show her. An errant thought caused a column of earth to spread outward from his hand-a massive wave of land spreading forth from his fingers, splashing into the waters, taking shape just off Merry's starboard bow. It simply hung there, the newly minted island floating idyllically in the background; a flat plateau of land for all to see.

But Naruto wasn't done yet. His domain was earth, he could do more than simply create flat stretches of land. He beckoned with his fingers, drawing forth the nutrients within the soil; ushering life into the earth itself in the blink of an eye. Trees formed. Mountains were born. Plants sprouted. Life was born. Creation. It hung there, his child, his island, born by his own power, and everyone marveled at it.

Naturally, Luffy was delighted.

"Naruto made an islaaaaaand~!"

Conis blinked, her large eyes wide as saucers.

"Sugoi!" she gasped, "what kind of power is that?"

"The Iwa Iwa no mi." Naruto puffed his chest out a bit, glad that someone seemed to appreciate his talents. "I think I win when it comes to being a freak, no? So don't call yourself that. You should be grateful to have a gift like that; hell, I'd kill to be able ta fly!"

Conis opened her mouth to protest, but seemed to think better of it. At last she nodded, the lightest of flushes adjourning her pale cheeks.

"You're a really nice person, Naruto-kun."

"I...ah...thanks."

A few yards Sanji let out a strangled noise and collapsed – literally foaming at the mouth.

"Damnit, not again! First Robin-chwan, now Conis-swan! Why does he get all the laaaaaaaadies?! What about meeeee?!"

Conis tilted her head, confused.

"Sumimasen?"

Robin, however, took his wail in stride. "I must say, Cook-san," she commented through her teeth, knuckling her brow. She didn't know _what_ to think anymore. "I never figured you for the lecherous type…"

The blonde twitched on the ground, making sounds like a dying frog.

"My heart is breaking...

"Stupid cook, tripping over a woman like that." Zoro grumbled. "What's so special about them anyway?"

"Says the man who ran away from Tashigi." Usopp snickered.

The swordsman choked. Naruto grinned trollishly at him: "_What was that, Zoroooo –?"_

"Its not my fault!"

Everything degenerated most swiftly afterwards; their short-lived peace proved to be even shorter than Naruto suspected. "God" was already taking steps against them. Mild and ineffectual steps, but steps nonetheless it seemed. An encounter and subsuquent trouncing of the White Berets, the escalation of their so-called crime of "illegal entries" the kidnapping of the Merry with Robin and the others aboard rapidly ferried away to the Upper Yard by some thrice-damned shrimp.

Now the hyrbird weapon once more found himself trapped on Angel Island alongside Luffy and Usopp, separated from the others and forced to stroll through Lovely Street, making their way to the docks. To say that he was displeased would be an understatement. Ordinarily he kept his emotions on a tight leash; refusing to allow anger to get the better of him. But that least was beginning to fray, his muscles knotting with anger and a white-hot fury he hadn't felt since the days of his childhood.

To make matters worse, poor Conis seemed scared out of her mind.

"Why have you been trembling ever since we left your house?" Ordinarily, Luffy would've asked that question, perhaps out of plain curiousity. But Naruto had noticed it beforehand. It had been bothering him. Ever since they'd beaten those bothersome Berets. Something had been nagging at him; the way the townsfolk studiously avoided his gaze, their haste to scamper aside and out of their path. It wasn't just wariness. It was fear of something. Not just they, being Blue Sea Dwellers, but something more. As if they were actively afraid of being punished for something they hadn't done.

"D-Does it look that way?" the angel averted her eyes.

"It does." Naruto stepped forward, pinnioning her with his pale gaze. "What're you afraid of?"

"No...I...its not what you think...

_"Conis."_

Luffy blinked, baffled by his tone. "Nanda? What's wrong?"

Naruto flung a hand outward, stopping his fellow blond cold.

"Hold it." a warning. "Can't you see what's going on here?"

"Nani?"

As time passed Conis seemed to shrink inward, unable to withstand their combined scrutiny. Finally she faltered, voice breaking.

"It's strange, isn't it?" her words were the most naked whisper. "Politely telling you the route to the Ordeals. Coming with you all the way here, lending you a boat. All the while saying the Ordeals were more fearsome than death. As if I was leading you here. To your deaths. You've been so kind to me, you praised me, and yet I...I...!" She sank her teeth in deep into her lower lip, stubbornly trying to quash the emotions rising in her breast, but to no avail-he could see the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, her feelings-her guilt-getting the better of her judgement.

Abruptly, she sank to her knees.

"Will you please escape from here?"

The trio exchanged a glance.

_...what?"_

"I'm so sorry!" She sobbed, suddenly repentant. "The one who called the Super-Express Speed Shrimp...was me!"

"That was you?!"

"Yes. While you were away from the ship I lied and told them there was a current at Cloud End. I made them raise their anchor. That was the signal for the shrimp to come. A-After discovering criminals, we must guide them to the Land of Judgement. Or we will be killed! This is the duty of our people!"

"Stop talking!" An angel shouted! That was all it took; the plaza erupted into shouts and screams.

"Do you know what you're saying?!"

"You're commiting sacrilege against God!"

"Someone restrain her!"

_**"URUSAI!"**_

Naruto's rage-filled roar ripped through everyone's ears like the drums of a great hunt out for their blood, deafening the cries ringing out against Conis and the crew. But it was more to it than that. Nearly evey angel in the vicinity excluding Conis simply collapsed. There could be no other word for it whatsoever; some simply keeled over, foaming at the mouth. Others, sank to their knees, looking as though they'd just suffered through the worst heart attack of their alives. Those unlucky few who were able to withstand his will found themselves gasping and short of breath, treated to a sight worse than death.

A memory stabbed at him; he suddenly knew what he'd just done, the powe he had exhibited.

_Haoshoku Haki._

"If you're so afraid of God then I'll show you a _devil!"_ he thundered, his eyes glowing an eerie red, an almost crimson aura momentarily overtaking him. "Now shut the fuck up! All of you!"

"I'm sorry! It's so stupid...all of it!" Conis wept.

A bead of sweat rolled down Luffy's cheek. "You idiot! You didn't have a choice, right?!"

A sorrowed nod.

"Then why did you tell us?!" Naruto seized her by the shoulders, eyes flashing. "Now they're gonna come after you! Is it because of Enel?!" He pressed, eyes narrow. "Are you afraid he'll hurt you?" A heartbeat later his words proved prophetic.

"No, its too late!" someone screamed!

"Get away from her!"

"The Judgement's coming!"

The harsh crack of thunder was their only warning, a beam of blue white descended down from the heavens. Naruto didn't think. He just felt. His arm shot up to intercept the blast and in that instant, the circle upon his hand, no more than a few inches wide, began to glow. There was barely enough time to notice _that _before the wrath of heaven struck him, pouring into his arm and filling him with the raw current of thunder. There was no destruction. No obliteration. Whatever malevolent modifications the World Government had made to his body before he'd consuming the Iwa Iwa no, they'd saved him. This time.

It also explained the sudden surge of energy roaring through his body. He felt super-charged, his body coursing with power in ever pore._ Damn but it felt good. _As though he could crush a giant's head like a walnut! His right arm was sparking like a live wire, but even as he beheld it the energy died down, as though his body had simply stored it for later use.

_'Well, this is unexpected..._

Naruto's breath caught in his throat and he glanced back and forth between Conis and the others. Luffy and Usopp were a statue. He'd meant exactly what he said about being a devil, so the next decision could end with him being attacked by God himself or worse. He eyed their surroundings cautiously. Conis held a shocked look as she struggled for breath, coming to terms with the realization that she wasn't dead. He couldn't see the angels from this angle, but their murmurs were more than enough to prove his point. If anything, he was proud to have taken a stand, and felt confident that he'd at least shaken Enel's confidence. When a second attack wasn't immediately forthcoming his grin only grew.

"Cooooool!" Luffy laughed! "Didn't know you could do that!"

"I didn't, either." Naruto glanced at his hands, still crackling with energy.

Usopp just moaned, slumping to the ground in a quivering heap. "Sky Island scary...Sky Island scary...

"What's so scary?" Luffy frowned. "Nobody got hurt, right?"

"BAKA!" Naruto and Usopp simultaneously karate-chopped their senchou on his rubbery head. "We could've died!"

"But you didn't, right?"

"Mohhhh, that's enough!" the sniper wailed! "I want off this crazy island!"

Conis was still grasping at composure. Mere moments ago, she had expected to die. Even prepared herself for it. But Naruto had caught the lightning and absorbed it. Made it a part of him. She could see it in his eye, a brightness seemed to shine in those pair of orbs. No one had ever survived the Judgement before. No one had ever stood up to Enel, at least not for very long. Most illfated rebellions had ended with the instigators nigh but charred, their bodies reduced to ash. But Naruto wasn't ash. He was fully committed to his side of the fight. Now, however, he was more determined than Conis ad ever seen him, more serious and devoted.

"You alright?" he grunted.

"Why?"

"Hah?" Naruto blinked, staring down at her in disbelief

"Why did you protect me?!"

"Was I supposed to sit back and let you die?" the blond returned with a sigh. "Come on, now. Get up." he wrapped a hand around her wrist and gently hoisted the angel to her feet. "A pretty thing like you shouldn't be crying like that."

"Ain't it obvious? You're a friend. Now dry those tears. We're getting out of here."

The girl broke into a real smile then. "Hai!"

"They survived God's judgement?" An angel balked.

"Impoossible...

A muscle jumped in Naruto's jaw.

"Aye, but lets see how _you_ survive the _devil _treatment you shitty bastards-

The steady beating of a horse's wings interrupted him.

"Just a moment!"

Naruto's head snapped around; sure enough there was the Knight of the Sky, riding his strange steed. He descended rapidly, armor glinting in the bright afternoon sun, swooping down

"Wierd Knight!"

"My name is Gan Fall," the aging mercenary corrected Luffy with an astounding patience, _"Gan. Fall. _I will take care of the young lady." he reassured them, ushering Conis onto Pierre. "Enel's mantra will not be able to reach us where I am taking her." His slate grey gaze slid back to Naruto and Luffy. "But what do you plan to do, blue sea dwellers?"

"Ain't that obvious?"

Naruto whirled back to the warf, eyes shining like hot coals in his skull.

"Kick some ass!"

* * *

><p><em>(One ordeal later)<em>

Usopp felt his jaw come unhinged.

"Oi oi oi...wasn't that a tad excessive?"

Naruto stood over Satori's prone from, his curled back into a hateful sneer as he drove his boot deeper into the priest's pudgy face for the upteenth time. The man's rotund visage was absolutely _wreathed_ in ugly purple bruises, his yellow glasses broken and more than a few teeth shattered. He was even missing an arm and a leg-the wounds both caused _and_ cauterized by the blonde's _Lanza del Relampago._ Amazing what you could do when you were motivated, no?

"Excessive is my middle name." the blond returned with a growl, driving Satori's body into the milky road in a violent kick. "He tried to kill us, remember? Let 'em sink."

Indeed, the redhead had startled them at first with his impact dials and surprise balls, hell, he'd even managed to briefly incapacitate Luffy and Usopp. Naruto had proved a different story. An impact dial couldn't do any thing against a Logia; he hadn't even been able to knock Naruto off the Little Crow, much to his complete consternation. Indeed, Satori had made the two-fold mistake of overestimating his Mantra and _underestimating_ Naruto's speed, coupled with his indestructability. He'd paid most dearly for it, Naruto decided as he watched the Skysharks swarm around the priest.

He likely had only a few minutes left, assuming the beasts of the forest deemed him edible. Either way, he was as good as dead. Naruto actually _smirked_ when the clouds began to turn red with the priest's blood. Usopp cringed, shuddering as the skysharks set to work on their lunch. He almost felt sorry for the priest...

"Serves 'em right." Naruto muttered to himself.

"What's wrong with you?" Luffy complained, but there was a subtle undercurrent of worry in his captain's tone. "You've been really pissed off lately."

"Pissed off?" Incredulous, felt the hackles on the back his neck rise. Angry was an understatment. "Are you serious, Luffy?" He'd been pissed off _before_ he realized just how much of a royal asshole 'God' truly was. Now he was absolutely heated. No two ways about it; he could feel fire boiling in his blood, see the red heaze, his fury threatening to overtake his better judgement. And it was all because of Enel. Bastard made off with his woman, and _theennn _tried to electrocute a helpless angel for having a conscience?

"I'm pissed because Enel is trying to kill us and our nakama." his voice a low growl, Naruto willed himself not to snap at the captain. Luffy meant him no harm. "He took Robin, godamnit! And if he's harmed so much as a hair on her head, I intend to make him pay. Dearly."

"Oh, is that it?" Just like that, Luffy shook off his anger. "You're worried about Robin! Why didn't you just say so? Lets go kick his ass!"

Naruto couldn't help it; his misplaced anger vanished at the rubberman's grin. Luffy might be a blockhead at times, but he was _their_ blockhead.

"Aye, let's keep going."

* * *

><p>Tony Tony Chopper couldn't help but squeak as Shura pressed the tip of the heat javelin against his fur, the deadly edge already threatening to singe the skin beneath. Where was the Knight of the Sky? He'd blown the whistle what felt like an eternity ago, ever since then he'd been fighting to keep the priest from burning Merry down around his little ears. But he'd failed. Already he'd thrown the mast and rigging away-if he hadn't the entire vessel would've been up in flames hours ago.<p>

But now he had nowhere to run. His fury was burned and single, one of his eyes nearly swollen shut where the priest had bludgeoned him with the hilt of his lance.

"D-Don't...

"For someone to live, someone else must die." the priest seemed to delight in the reindeer's discomfort. "That's the way the world works."

_"Then why don't you just die?" _There was no further warning as someone fell upon him.

Scarce had Shura registered the words than a spear of verdant green light carved through his shoulder, obliterating the joint in a flash of light. The pain that followed was nothing short of excruciating, blindingly terrible in its intensity, but even that paled in comparison to the devil lurking behind him. Blood red eyes judged him and damned him in the same instant, those slitted pupils narrow and malevolent as their owner twirled what looked to be a lance of pure light in his hands, his body casting a seething shadow over the man he'd come to kill.

_"Guh...!"_

Shura's right eye went wide as his right arm was severed from his body, the limb now falling away from him in a flash. The gloved fingers wriggling slightly as the nerve endings within them struggled to receive signals from his brain once more, dropping the javelin that they once held as his hand groped on blindly. Shura lunged forward, his left arm stretched out in an attempt to grab and wield the fallen weapon. In his peripheal he could see his attacker moving to place himself between Chopper and the priest, his body effectively blotting out any chance of killing the Mugiwara's doctor.

"Na-ru-to~!" Chopper practically sang the hybrid's name as the blond stalked forwards. Shura was more concerned with how the man had managed to sneak up on him than his own safety.

"Sorry I'm late, Chopper." Naruto murmurred. "It's going to be alright, now."

Shura blanched.

_How?! _his mind worked frantically, brain struggling to contemplate just how he'd failed to detect the blond until this very moment._ I didn't even sense him coming!_ Behind him Fuza shrieked and spat fire, consuming Naruto in a great gout of flame. His victory was short-lived however, as the blond emerged from the inferno, utterly unscathed. Uncaring for the ruinated state of his outfit he cut down and Fuza toppled to its dooom, the great skybird bleeding from a massive gash in its torso. It hung there for a moment, still roosted on the Merry, before it toppled into the shark-infested waters below.

"Fuza!"

"Worry about yourself." Naruto pounced like a spring; tension and muscle, ready and waiting to be unleashed.

The priest swore as he backpedalled. The death of his mount had bought him enough time to recover, but only just. Even then, his mantra didn't save him. _Damn but he was just too fast!_

Shura barely managed to snatch and block with his javelin; almost too late, as the shaft of light bit down into the steel, its brilliant edge driving a wedge into the once deadly weapon. For a moment, it seemed his lance would hold, withstand the ethereal weapon pressing against it. But Naruto's strength and momentum proved too much and his weapon deadly. The winged warrior choked out a small cry as the blond effortlesly swatted his weapon aside and lased out with a heel, burying his boot deep in the Skypiean's gut.

His world receded rapidly, his back slaming against Merry's forecastle with a resounding thud. Naruto leapt after him, discarding his lance in favor of unarmed combat. Some

"D-Damnit," he could taste blood in lungs; the blonde's blow had done more damage than he'd thought. He'd probably broken a rib. And with only one arm and no avenue of escape, his chances were slim indeed. Damn he couldn't even use his Ordeal in this sorry state! If he could just reach his javelin then he might have a chance...

Uzumaki Naruto flashed into view, his body blocking the priests weapon, his crimson eyes glaring out coldly from behind the frightening shadow of the sundered mast. With a hiss he swung his lance backwards, a green blue rocketing out from the tip of his sword and incinerating both the warrior's arm and his sword within the brilliant energy.

_Shit. _

His attire in tatters, Naruto marched forward at the frightened priest. Shura was retreating, his feet shuffling backwards as his eye trained on the blond in front of him. He knew that he could resort to another form of attack and continue his fight, but his mind was inexplicably filled with fear as he looked into the hate-filled eyes of his opponent.

"Oh no," Naruto hissed, his fingers closing aroung the man's throat in a vice, dragging him off the ground. "You don't get to speak."

Shura choked out a rasping laugh, defiant to the last.

"Don't think this changes anything, weakling! Enel-sama will-

"_Silence_!"

Earth erupted from Naruto in a wave, swarming the priest and confining him. Only his head was left exposed, his fearful expression evident for all the world to see. He could feel the earth and sand surrounding him like a second skin, tightening with each passing second. Horrified, he realized too late what the blond intended. Earth wound its way around him, coiling about his arm like a serpent. Naruto raised his hand and raised those tendrils of earth with it, hoisting the priest ever higher into the air.

"Earth Coffin."

"D-Don't do it...

Naruto's hand closed with his eyes, fingers grinding themselves into a fist.

_"Burial."_

His fist closed with a resounding crunch, compacting the eath violently around the man's body. The result was as grisly as it was violent. Blood sprayed into the soil, further attracting the attention of the skysharks nigh but lurking below. Naruto didn't even pause to watch Shura's broken body fall into the water; he was already reaching for the Den Den Mushi kept at his hip. With a soft gerchack, the device activated.

"Moshi moshi," he grinned into the receiver. "Is Wiper there?"

_"What do you want?"_ the warrior's rough baritone greeted him.

"What would you say if I told you we just killed two priests?"

A choking sound caused him to start. Violently.

_"Which ones?"_

"Shura and Satori." Impossibly, the blonde's grin grew. "Whaddya say, Wiper? Feel like starting a a lil' war?"

There was a sience.

And then.

And_ then._

_"I'd say you've got a deal."_

* * *

><p><strong><strong>AN: Aaaaaand there you have it! Events are shaping up rapidly with Naruto's interference; Conis is starting to fall for him, ttwo priests are dead, an alliance has been struck with the Shandians against Enel and just like that, we're already more than half way through this crazy! arc. Naruto is going to be a THREAT to Enel, not just to his pride, but physicall as well. Without lightning, all he has to fall back on is mantra and as you can see, Naruto's quite fast enough to outmaneuver all but the most agile opponents. Hope I kept everyone in character! But don't worry I've got plans for the Davy Back arc and Foxy as well-friggin hate that fool-so it won't amount to more than a chapter at most. I know ya'll are looking forward to Water 7!****

**And with that, its back to bed for me and more painkillers to recover. Yay. Hope ya'll enjoyed the update! I sincerely look forward to your reviews on this chapter when I wake up! **

**So in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...review, would you kindly? (And of course, enjoy the preview! Its a bit longer this time!)**

_**(Preview)**_

There was a silence, broken only by the sound of her body striking the ground.

And then.

And _then._

"ROBIN!"

In that instant, something slipped. There could be no other word for it. One moment his sanity had been standing there Robin with Robin; the next it shattered when Enel struck her. She fell, her body still arcing with a deadly crack that set his heart to hammering.

A great and terrible haze fell over his vision, power untold welling up deep within, leaving him powerless to hold back even had he wanted to. But Naruto didn't want to. What he _**wanted** _was to end Enel. To tear apart this self-righteous asshole who'd dared to lay a hand on Robin, dared to snatch her life-or she he thought-away with one cruel flick of his fingers. The rage took him then, obliterating every thought, subsuming him in an ocean of mirthful madness and malice. With Robin gone what was left for him? Nothing. Nothing at all. In short:

_Uzumaki Naruto snapped._

_"**MOTHERFUCKER**!"_

* * *

><p>Enel couldn't believe what was happening. He was losing. He! A God! An almighty being! Embued with the power of Lightning itself! To a Blue Sea Dweller! All these sights sounds and more passed through his mind as he stared at his new opponent, this enraged blonde, his visage twisted in a rictus of fury. This was...absurd! And what was this form that he had taken?! His skin was a deep lustrous shade of cold crimson and his eyes were the same shade; those scarlet orbs surveying him with a frightening dispassion. Gone was the mortal shell he'd worn; he was taller, stronger, faster.<p>

_Deadlier._

And then there were the spikes. Those deadly ramrod straight edges prickling upwards from his between his shoulders and betixt his elbows; he'd wondered at their purpose at first, but now he knew. And he was really beginning to regret it. They, the blades, were meant to cut. They'd already carved many a deadly trench in his supposedly intangible body.

The Blue Sea Dweller was absorbing his lightning. Those strange rods and spikes caught the light of heaven and drew it downward, making him stronger, faster. He couldn't even avoid the boy with his mantra anymore try as he might.

Enraged, he thrust his staff at the towering titan looming over him.

"Enough!" he roared! "You, Blue Sea Dweller, are beneath me! I am a God you dull creature, and I will not be bulled by the likes of-

**Ground.**

Enel's words ended in a small squeak of pain as the blonde reached down, grabbed him by the arm and made his face intimate with the vearth in a way that no man desires. Once. Twice. Thrice. The mighty man swung him back and forth like a ragdoll, his lanky body crashing into the soil with a resounding thud. At last, tired with his toy, the beast flung him away. Naruto growled, a deep snarl issuing forth from his throat as he stared down at his fellow logia. A massive hand reached for his head and began to squeeze.

_"Puny...God!"_

**Preview)**


	8. Of Gods and Devils

**A/N: Alright ladies and gentlmen, good news and bad news. Good news first. I'm fresh out of ANOTHER surgery-hurts like hell. Bad news. Things aren't looking well for me. My health has been in decline as of late, my girlfriend's all but left me because of it, and I'm still jobless. And to top it all off, I've just been informed that my grandmother's in the hospital, and she might die. Ain't that just peachy?! *Takes a deep breath* Alright then, enough of the rant, ya'll are here for the story, not the rambling of a man potentially on his deathbed.**

**Anywho,I managed to put this up here at points between the forced anesthetic. Bad news is I still have more surgeries ahead. Still, I'm feeling a bit better now. Really. ****I'm hanging tough though, despite everything life is throwing at me. Despite all that's happening, I don't intend to die quietly in a bed somewhere! And on that note I should give you fair warning, some changes have been made here to keep things interesting, folks. So with that...**

**...onto the next chapter! And remember: I! Own! NOTHING! Remember! This is rated M now!**

_"Seek, and ye shall find."_

_~?_

**Of Gods and Devils**

"ROOOOOOBIIIIN~!"

The archaelogist gave an uncharestic _yelp_ as Naruto slammed into her-his body cleaving to hers-wrapped, an arm around her waist, swung her up off her feet and procceeded to kiss her breathless. It all happened too swiftly for the human eye to comprehend; his lips were almost there and back again before the rest of the crew even realized what had happened. Almost, but not quite. Unfortunately the Strawhats were anything but human, and their singular shout/roar of surprise immediately told her that their little liplock hadn't gone entirely unnoticed by their nakama.

"I was so worried!" Naruto gushed, utterly unaware of their eyes burning into his back. "I'd thought something happened to you, or you were dead, or," he paused, suddenly aware not just of their attention, but of his hand resting gently upon hers, their fingers intertwined.

Butterflies swarmed up from her belly in droves; Robin crushed them down, but her face still turned bright pink as she forced her hand to stay where it was, even though everything in her rational mind was telling her to catapult away like a scalded cat. _Stop it! _She shrieked at her screaming inhibitions. _This, is nothing to be embarassed about! You've done worse than hold hands with him!_ And yet, somehow, seeing the worry deep in his eyes, then the relief that she was alright, was like a balm to her soul. Robin felt her cheeks color at the thought, her face flaring an impossible shade of pink.

In the end, she didn't hesitate to kiss him back. Not at all.

"WHAT THE SHITTY HELL WAS THAT, YOU LOAMY BASTARD?!" Sanji promptly burst into flames as he blamed Naruto, the painful memory of the two tangled up intimacy earlier now roaring up to the fore. "HOW DARE YOU KISS ROBIN-CHWAN IN PUBLIC! GET A ROOM OR SOMETHING!"

_...huuuh?"_

Like an iron trap, Naruto's gaze locked onto Sanji's own. The sheer intensity of his stare, the sudden ice in his expression, was enough to silence him, nay, the entire crew. Nothing moved. Nothing at all. And then he spoke, voice black as pitch, eyes cold as the coldest winter.

"Did you have something to say, _Sanji-kun?"_

The cook bit down angrily on his cigarette as flames seemed to emit from his body. Nami narrowed her eyes a bit, a larg sweatdrop forming on her forehead as she turned back to her map. Now she didn't need to even bother delivering the message, as they had done it for her. And it was just too damn funny to see the look on Sanji's face.

"Tch...

"Jealous, shit cook?" Zoro concluded with a chuckle.

"LIKE HELL I AM, BAKA MARIMO!"

"Ah," Usopp and Chopper nodded trollishly. "He's definitely jealous."

"I SAID I'M NOT!"

"What's the big deal, you guys?" Luffy tilted his head, scratching his straw hat in confusion. "Their faces just touched. I don't see what's so important." Nami twitched. Oh boy...

...Luffy?" A red stitch throbbed angrily on her forehead. "Do you know what a kiss is?"

The rubberman blinked.

"No...?"

There was a long silence, one broken by the dull "Thwack!" of their navigator's fist hitting their captain's rubbery skull. "And you never will, hopeless baka!" she yelled, her teeth entirely replaced with shark fangs. That set off something of a chain reaction in the group. Naruto snickered, and suddenly Robin was laughing; Usopped barely bit back a giggle, leaving Chopper to snicker, even Zoro cracked a smile. Poor Sanji, he remained trapped in his depression

"Ring ring ring ring."

"Ah~!" Naruto cried, fiddling with the den den mushi in his pocket. "Moshi moshi! This is Naruto!" He paused, listened to the voice on the other end. "Mmm. Mmhm. Yosh. Alright then, we'll begin our attack tomorrow at dawn. See you then!"

"Who was that?" Luffy frowned.

Naruto told them then; of Wiper and his plan; the alliance that the three of them had hatched in secret. The Mugiwara no Ichimi listened intently, and when he had finally finished, it was not Nami, but Luffy who cleared his throat; their favorite rubberman grinning from ear to ear now.

"Yosh, that settles it!" He decided. "I know what he is now!" At the blonde's baffled look, their captain continued. "Hes our Strategist!" Nearly everyone facepalmed as one, not even Nico Robin was immune to this sharp and very much unexpected declaration. A certain sniper took offense to that.

"Oi, Luffy! I thought that was my role?!"

"Uh? You're the gunner, remember, Usopp?"

"C'mon now Long Nose-san," Naruto grinned devilishly, using Robin's moniker for the young man. "This way it'll be more _fuuuuuun~!"_

The sniper squealed like a girl and practically somersaulted back, smacking into the wall. "Ah… ah… AH…?!" he gaped. Scary! Naruto was scary! He knew the blond loved a good scuffle just as much as any pirate, but a smile like that only promised doom! Doom and death! Or wooooorse! The sniper sighed. A gloomy raincloud of depression hung over his head. There was no way to get out of this, he knew. Once Luffy made a decision like this, there could be no turning back. Still, he felt it was in him to at least try.

"Can we not do this, you guys? Please?! I don't want to piss of God anymore than we already have! Chopper! Help me out here!"

"I don't want to fight God, either!"

"Yosh, its decided then!" Luffy laughed. "Tomorrow, we'll kick God's ass and take all the gold! But tonight, we party!"

"Ignored~!" the doctor and sniper lowed pitifully.

"Ara, what's this?"

Naruto blinked, frowning as his childhood friend and lover touched a hand to his chest, inspecting the burn wound inflicted by Shura. "Oh, its nothing." he answered. "Just a war wound I got while protecting Merry. You should see the guy that did this to me."

Robin's eyes flashed dangerously. "I'll kill him."

"Ah...Robin-chan?" Naruto gulped. "He's already dead."

The look she gave him was nothing short of murderous. "Then I'll kill God, instead."

Nami, Usopp, and Chopper leaned away from her without thinking, eyes round as tea saucers. _**Robin's even scarier…!**_

* * *

><p>But as Naruto soon learned, one did not simply attempt kill "God" and expect to get away with it.<p>

Everything had gone to hell. Straight to shit. Wrong. Terribly, horribly wrong. Who could've prediced that Enel was so strong; such a force to be reckoned with? No one. Not even Naruto. Even allied with the Shandians, even with the priests dead and defeated, they simply weren't prepared for the man's little "survival game" as it were. Their crew was quite horribly scattered-Usopp and Sanji lay down back on the Merry, Luffy was still trapped with Aisa in that damned snake, and he'd just watched the Knight of the Sky, Gan Fall, get the hell shocked out of him.

"I hate manipulative women."

Robin's attempt to manipulate the so-called "God" failed all too easily, as Naruto looked on, he raised a single finger prepared to strike her down for her temerity. Just like that. He moved desperately to block the blasts from his beloved but too late, one took in the chest, the other sailed over his shoulder to strike her square in the head. There was a silence, broken only by the sound of his own breatehing, her body striking the ground in a heap behinds him.

And then.

And _then._

"ROBIN!"

Naruto dropped to his knees, frantically checking for a heartbeat, finding none.

In that instant, something slipped. There could be no other word for it. One moment his sanity had been standing there _Robin_ with Robin; the next it shattered when Enel struck her. She fell, her body still arcing with a deadly crack that set his heart to hammering. He tried to reach for her head, cradle it in his lap, but, she fell right through his fingers, unmoving. Unbreathing. Naruto felt something slip in him then; the conscious hold he kept upon his power, the tight leash that exercised his control, beginning to fray. Oh no. No no no no _no..._

"She's a woman!" Somewhere out of sight, Zoro's roar of rage reached his ears. Naruto barely heard it. He could feel it slipping...slipping...

"I can see that." Enel's hand crackled once more, and this time it was Zoro who fell, tumbling to the ground in a charred heap.

A great and terrible haze fell over his vision, power untold welling up deep within, leaving him powerless to hold back even had he wanted to. But Naruto didn't want to. What he _**wanted** _was to end Enel. To tear apart this self-righteous asshole who'd dared to lay a hand on Robin, dared to snatch her life-or she he thought-away with one cruel flick of his fingers. The rage took him then, obliterating every thoughts, subsuming him in an ocean of mirthful madness and malice. With Robin gone what was left for him? Nothing. Nothing at all. In short:

Snapped.

**_"RYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"_**

Nami yelped as Naruto's body exploded into crimson, a ghastly aura enveloping him from head to toe to shatter the stone beneath their feet. He was suddenly in motion, clenched knuckles ploughing into Enel's stomach with all the force of a landslide, his hardened limb punching through the electrified man in a shower of spraying sparks. And this time, he actually hit. The "God" of Skypiea gagged, eyes abulge as the blonde's fist found its mark, driving the wind from his lungs with an audible wheeze, bending double with a rare sensation; one of pain.

**"Rasengan!"**

He raised his gaze just in time to see the spiraling sphere hurtling into his unprotected gut, before his vision. Then he was gone, exploding backwards in a shower of bloody spray; his solidified body plowing through one of the many ruines adjourning the yard. Naruto stalked after him, the flesh of his back beginning to swell, his skin glistening an unholy red. Something was happening to him. He was changing. Warping. Becoming more and more of a weapon, and less of a man with each second that passed. Tears streamed from those scarlet eyes, his transformation fueled by grief and loss and nothing more.

**"Robin,"** he crooned softly, brokenly, chanting her name like a mantra._** "Robin...**_

Fingers sharpened into claws, deadly digits that could disembowel a grown man with ease. Bedraggled blonde locks darkened to black and shadow, ebony tresses growing long and ragged as she looked on, cascading to life behind his shoulders, and an eerie facade; a mask could be seen forming on the man's whiskered cheeks. Molten steel flowed from his open pores to smother his face-creating a visage straight out of hell itself, even as it spread to the rest of him.

**"Robin...**

That dread thing was ghastly; all sharp canines and incisors-deadly teeth that were meant for one purpose and one purposes only, the rending of flesh. And still it continued. The strange molten metal had taken up new residence upon his arms and legs now, encasing his growing form. Jagged rods burst forth from his muscular back seconds later-jutting out in a strange parodxym to their compatriots on his hands; the once small holes in the blonde's palms now pulsated with an eerie scarlet sheen, every inch of him seemed to swell with energy, power incarnate. This was Pluton. The power to destroy an island, manifested in one man.

"Naruto...?"

The blonde didn't even turn and look at her, his glassy eyes remained fixed intently upon the ruin where Enel stood. Wordlessly, the hulking weapon he had become raised a hand. A wall of earthe rose between the pair and not a moment too soon; scarce had he raised it than a jagged bolt of lightning ripped through the wreckage where "God" had fallen. Shearing through the protective barrier like a hot knife through butter it swept a past the baffled navigator, striking the blonde dead on. Nami yelped!

_"Kyaaah!"_

This was it! Naruto was dead! Dead and gone! Dead and-_what?_

With a thunder snarl the human weapon strode out of the smoke, his body arcing with renewed energies. He appeared to have suffered another transformation, the jagged spikes on his back becoming more stream in appeartance, ther deadly curvatures extending to his wrists as well. Naruto had absorbed the ligihtning. It seemed impossible, but he'd simply taken Enel's energy and made it is own. But where was-aha! Another bolt lanced out to strike him; this time Pluton simply caught in hand and crushed it, gauntlet sparking with power. _Crushed it._ Like so much glass.

Then he started forward. Slowly at first, his footsteps heavy and thudding, but increasing in speed with each passing instant.

Wiper gawped, suddenly uncertain of who the true enemy was.

"You impudent ape!" A bloodied Enel growled, reappearing in a crackle of electricity. "How dare you do this to me?! HOW DARE YOU!"

**"Kill you."** Pluton rasped in reply. **"Gonna...killl...you...**

"I invite you to try!" Enel flashed away but Pluton was suddenly there, his arm locking around the man's wrist. Enel shrieked and brought his staff around; Naruto didn't even bother to dodge. The golden rod shattered as soon as it struck his helm, shattering to pieces. Enraged, the electric man tried to shock the blond into submission; he only succeeded in making him even stronger. The vice on his arm didn't slacken in the slightest at all; it bit down even harder, bruising flesh and bone, holding him fast.

"What is this?!" the god growled, visage twisting in a rictus of pain and rage. "Release me at once, worm!"

**"No...more."** the words trickled out in a furious hiss behind Pluton's mask. **"No more running."**

**_"NO MORE RUNNING!"_**

Clenched knuckles plowed upwards and the world erupted; stone and cloud gave way beneath her feet. She was suddenly falling, faling...

_"Look out!"_

Nami yelped as a slim pair of arms encircled her waist; then she found herself hauled upwards and to safety. The steady beat of wings filled her ears, hoisting her back into heaven and away from the deadly drops that awaited her. She turned her head, half-expecting her saviour to be Wiper; imagine her surprise then, when she beheld that face

"Conis?!

Below, Pluton-Naruto!- tossed its head back and screamed the name of the man it would kill.

* * *

><p><strong>"ENEEEEEEEEEL!"<strong>

A blur of savage red steels struck down mercilessly at the god's head, driving Enel's face into the ground with such force that his body actually _bounced_ from the motion. Now when one considered just how solid the human body was, this was no mean feat. The sheer force of the strike sent him skidding across the ground for several meters, his limbs pinwheeling wildly, tumbling end over end before finally rolling to a halt at the edge of the upper wall. He lay there for a long moment, gasping for breath, blood dripping from his body, pooling harmlessly into the stone.

These ruins were a wonderful place to hide, he thought. So long as he stayed out of sight-

_Ba-dump._

A bright flash signalled the destruction of his hiding place, and then it began again. Enel flashed away even as the ruins crumbled around him; shards of stone and debris phasing harmlessly through his frame when he emerged from the falling towers. Another flash, a pinprick of light, lanced out from nowhere, piercing the point of his shoulder. Enel swore, cursing himself for the momentary lapse.

The self-styled god barely managed to catch himself in time before he sailed out across in the abyss; before he plummeted down to the Upper Yard below. Even then, he wasn't fully able to avoid the destructive swathe of energy that was his opponent; the beast's soldier slammed into his solar plexus, forcing him to solidify once again as his back slammed into a nearby wall. He needed only an instant to recover and flicer away, just a brief moment-

Pluton didn't give him that moment, a roundhouse kick wedged the "God" into the side of a nearby building.

Enel couldn't believe what was happening. He was losing. He! A God! An almighty being! Embued with the power of Lightning itself! To a Blue Sea Dweller! All these sights sounds and more passed through his mind as he stared at his new opponent, this enraged blonde, his visage twisted in a rictus of fury. This was...absurd! And what was this form that he had taken?! His skin was a deep lustrous shade of cold crimson and his eyes were the same shade; those scarlet orbs surveying him with a frightening dispassion. Gone was the mortal shell he'd worn; he was taller, stronger, faster.

_Deadlier._

And then there were the spikes. Those deadly ramrod straight edges prickling upwards from his between his shoulders and betixt his elbows; he'd wondered at their purpose at first, but now he knew. And he was really beginning to regret it. They, the blades, were meant to cut. They'd already carved many a deadly trench in his supposedly intangible body, but it was worse than that.

The Blue Sea Dweller was absorbing his lightning. Those strange rods and spikes caught the light of heaven and drew it downward, making him stronger, faster. He couldn't even avoid the boy with his mantra anymore try as he might; his opponent was just too fast. It was too much! Too much! He was god!

Enraged, he thrust his staff at the towering titan looming over him, leveraging himself out of the wall and too his feet. Naruto stormed after him, his utter indifference to the man's godlike status proved to be the straw that broke Enel's back.

"Enough!" he roared, the words booming between the two of them, elicting a momentary pause in combat "You, Blue Sea Dweller, are beneath me! I am _God_ you dull creature, and I will not be bulled by the likes of-

_Ground._

Enel's words ended in a small squeak of pain as the blonde reached down, grabbed him by the arm and made his face intimate with the vearth in a way that no man desires. Once. Twice. Thrice. The mighty man swung him back and forth like a ragdoll, his lanky body crashing into the soil with a resounding thud. At last, tired with his toy, the beast flung him away. Naruto growled, a deep snarl issuing forth from his throat as he stared down at his fellow logia. A look of complete and utter loathing crossd that whiskered visage. Two words were uttered. A single pair of syllables, and yet they struck terror deep into Enel's very soul.

**_"Puny...God!"_**

Naruto moved, then.

**"Puny!"**

There could be no other word for it. One moment he was standing there, towering over Enel. The next; his booted foot buried itself ankle-deep within the god's stomach. Blood fountained forth from the logia's lips, that crimson steel sapping still more of his power and adding it to Naruto's own. A massive hand reached for Enel's head, those foul fingers-claws-locking around the pale man's throat and beginning to squeeze. Energy fled from him in droves, his very lifeforce leaching from his bones. And still Naruto squeezed, the Skypiean's face purpling as oxygen was denied to his brain. But Enel didn't die. His powers prevented that, kept his heart to beating whether he liked it or not.

It was only when Pluton changed tactics that he realized this might be a disadvantage.

Pale fingers scrabbled desperately at the arm ending him but to no avail, Naruto's fingers crushed down on his head savagely. Oh dear. He could feel the tendons in his neck beginning to tear, muscle and sinew ripping as the blonde ceased his failed attempt at strangulation and did the unthinkable.

_Yank._

He pulled; and Enel's head came free from his neck and shoulders with a bloody tear. There could be no resuscitation this time; The man's last thoughts were not of his failure, or even his precious Maxim, which would now remained forever unused within its secret cavern. Rather, it was of something exceedingly simple.

_Enel's last thoughts were of just how puny a god truly was..._

* * *

><p>Life came back to Nico Robin in fits and spurts, sensation returning reluctantly. Every fiber in her being ached and her body remained slow to moves, no doubt a result of being struck by lightning. Naruto had taken the brunt of the shock for her however; thanks to him she'd suffered only a glancing blow to the head. Still her heart had stopped for a moment there-no doubt her beloved was in a tizzy over it. Dark eyes fluttered open a hearbeat later, cringing as her body regained full control of its motor skills.<p>

She woke to find the ruins in, well...ruins. Lightning had scorched the area, and more than a few buildings had been smashed. Something was pressing against her lap, weighing her down...

Gasping, the archaelogist forced herself upright, using the power of the Hana Hana no mi to hold herself steady. _God but everything hurt._ But at least she hadn't woken along. The rest of her nakama ay sprawled round her in a small circle-odd, when had Cook-san and Long Nose-san recovered-their bodies wreathed in bandages, peaceful snoring welling up from the air. Even Luffy had someone arrived during her brush with death, he slept soundly just to her right, tangled up in a blanket.

"You're alive, then."

The archaeologist didn't start when Wiper's voice greeted her; she simply turned to regard him with one eye. The Shandian stood behind her, a cigarette clenched firmly between his teeth. He said nothing further, those angry dark eyes of his regarding her intently, waiting for her to speak.

"I suppose so." she said at last. "Where is-

"Enel?" For the first time since she'd met him, the man actually smiled, the corners of his lips turning up ever so slightly. "Dead. Killed at the hands of your mate."

_"Killled?"_ Robin was incredulous.

The shandian jerked his head over a shoulder. Sure enough there it was; the God's bloodied head lay fixed upon a pike only a few yards away; his visage twisted in agony, his now broken body skewered multiple times, perhaps to make sure he trully was dead. Well then, that settled that.

"He's a hero, you know." the gruff shandian growled, still staring up at giant jack. "My people owe him a great deal." Somewhere in the distance, she could hear it; the ringing of a great bell-its deep tones reverberating through her bones even from here at the bottom of the stalk. "Can you hear it? Isn't it a beautiful sound? Uzumaki rang that bell, after he killed Enel." His expression softened. "Our warriors are ringing it even now-with Enel gone, I see the war between our people for what it truly is; a waste. We should share this land, this clump of Vearth, not fight over that. It took an outsider to end this, to make me see that. Fighting amongst one another accomplishes nothing. Wouldn't you agree?"

Robin though back to the catastrophe at Alabasta; yes she supposed, war truly was a waste.

"Perhaps you're right."

Impossibly, Wiper's grin grew.

"Be sure to tell him that when he wakes up." he rumbled, turning and striding away. "We'll have a feast worthy of the man who restored Shandia's honor!"

...?"

Nico Robin finally looked down, finally realized what-or rather, who-it was weighing her down. Naruto. He lay there, his body covered in burns, but otherwise no worse for the wear. It was difficult to believe that he had slain someone with the powers of the Goro Goro no mi, let alone lived to tell the tale. But she was grateful. Relieved, even. His face twitched, one of his hands absently reaching up as though to make sure she was still there, as though his battle with Enel were just a bad dream.

"Robin..."

"Sh," she cooed softly, stroking the back of his head. "I'm here."

"I'll always be here."

* * *

><p><em>"Luffy-san...will you please let me join you?"<em>

_"Sure!"_

"EH?!"

"Conis-chwan?!"

Each of the Strawhats-excluding Robin and Naruto-sqwuaked in surprise, gawping at the angel that had just alighted on their deck. Conis, she recalled. Conis was joining them. But why? Luffy and the others seemed all for it, Sanji was of course, elated. but Robin? She couldn't shake this nervous feeling, this horrible sensation deep within her chest. The way the young angel looked at Naruto, the way she spoke to him and the way she looked at him even now; she knew while the others fumbled in the dark; Conis hadn't come along out of any misguided sense of honor, or even a desire to be pirate.

She'd come because of Naruto. And Robin didn't like that. It was a bad feeling, this ache in her chest, something she couldn't quite describe. She couldn't very well run away from it or go into hiding now; with the gold-laden Merry descending from Skypiea and everyone fussing over their newst nakama, there was nowhere for her to hide. She didn't like it, the way Naruto was looking at Conis. It hurt. She didn't think he had any true sort of feelings for the girl, but even the tinest possibility was enough to set her on edge.

Robin would later come to equate the feeling with one word. A bitter, awful word.

_Jealousy._

That jealousy would serve only to hurt her; to drive a wedge between the two of them...

* * *

><p><strong><strong>AN: Aaaaaand there you have it! I've put the Skypiea arc to a close! Hope you liked my take on the power of Pluton; in my mind its ts a raw mass of energy that absorbs energy and life itself and just keeps growing with each and every battle. Coupled with a Logia, its damn near unstoppable...or is it? Naruto can't control it yet, not without losing his mind, as I'm sure you see. But all is not well in paradise, and there are storm clouds on the horizon...****

****Hope I've kept everyone in character so far! But don't worry I've got plans for the Davy Back arc and Foxy as well-friggin hate that fool-so it won't amount to more than a chapter at most. I know ya'll are looking forward to Water 7!****

**And with that, its back to bed for me and more painkillers to recover. Yay. Hope ya'll enjoyed the update! I sincerely look forward to your reviews on this chapter when I wake up! **

**So in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...review, would you kindly? (And of course, enjoy the preview! )**

_**(Preview)**_

_"That woman is a stain on the world!" Aokiji growled, his normally calm demeanor evaporating as he wiped a trickle of blood away from his mouth. "Once she passes through the Gates of Justice, neither you, Mugiwara or anyone else will be able to save her!" __Naruto snarled in return,, his eyes flashing an unflinching scarlet. Enies Lobby was crumbling around them, yet still they fought. Ice and Earth, life and death, eternally opposing one another, forever in conflict._

_"I will save her, definitely!"_

_That earned him another icy rebuke._

_"Ice Block: Partisan!"_

_Naruto flung up an arm even as the icy attack formed and swarmed him, all but one of the deadly lances lodgng harmlessly in a wall of earth. The final spear sank firmly into his thigh, a pool of blood forming from the wound. Wincing, the blond ripped the shattered shaft out and cast it aside._

_"Aaaaaah, this really isn't something I wanted to use," he drawled. "But you're leaving me no choice here! I can't use Chibaku Tensei twice; not without destroying everything." Blue eyes drifted shut, veins bulging with and on his forehead, crimson lines standing starkly against his tan skin." I am one with the earth;" he began softly. "I am she, and she is me, all the land and all its creatures of earth and sea." A strange power began to swirl around him then, invisible eddies of energy swirling from the stone-from the earth-and into his body._

_"What're you doing...?"_

_"And the earth is one with me!" Sapphire eyes burst open, only they were no longer sapphire. Golden. Yellow. Safrron. All these things and more, opening to expose slanted pupils, an eerie orange dusting covering his eyelids. When he moved, Aokiji barely saw it. One moment he'd been standing across from him, the next, an angry red slice stained his uniform. Even as he turned to face the blonde, another rent opened up upon his chest, weeping crimson._

_"What is this?!"_

_"This?"_

_Naruto turned beside him, golden eyes furious._

_This is the power of nature. The whole of life itself, rallied against you. This is..._

**_"Sage Mode!"_**


	9. Saints and Sinners

**A/N: Alright ladies and gentlmen, good news and bad news. Good news first. I'm fresh out of ANOTHER surgery-hurts like hell. Bad news. Things aren't looking well for me. My health has been on the mend as of late, though my job isn't going so well, had to go home recently due to health issues. Ain't that just peachy?! *Takes a deep breath* Alright then, enough of the rant, ya'll are here for the story, not the rambling of a man potentially on his deathbed.**

**Anywho,I managed to put this up here at points between the forced anesthetic. Bad news is I still have more surgeries ahead. Still, I'm feeling a bit better now. Really. ****I'm hanging tough though, despite everything life is throwing at me. Despite all that's happening, I don't intend to die quietly in a bed somewhere! And on that note I should give you fair warning, some changes have been made here to keep things interesting, folks. So with that...**

**...onto the next chapter! And remember: I! Own! NOTHING! Remember! This is rated M now!**

_"Nothing can protect you from me. Not guns, not marines, not ice...!"_

_~?_

**Saints and Sinners**

_"Fefefefefe!"_ Foxy's lilting laugh rang through the air, once more mocking them for their failure. "Too bad, Mugiwara! We win this round!"

Luffy narrowly bit back the urge to growl; he _hated _cheaters. It certainly didn't help when said cheater had that damn annoying laugh! A part of him was beginning to regret agreeing to these tem;, having since landed on Long Ring Long Land island, their luck seemed to have taken a turn for the worse.

They'd agreed to this Davy Back Fight for the sole purpose of getting the old man's horse back, not losing their nakama! Naruto had nearly gone over there and clobbered Foxy the moment Chopper had been taken; he was fairly certain that had _he _been chosen, the blond would've snapped the cheater in half and thrown him into the sea without a care in the world. Loyalty or not. His strategist really could be scary sometimes, but not as scary as Robin; he could see their archaelogist glaring icy daggers at her fellow fruist user, no doubt imagining various ways of crippling Foxy with her own powers.

"Next time we'll take that little angel over there!" The Noro Noro user continued to cackle as he thrust a finger in Conis's direction. "She'll make a fine concubine!" The poor girl blanched at the man's lecherous gaze and all but darted behind Nami's shoulder. She was still unused to the world of piracy; Foxy's intentions had her all but terrified. And someone else enraged.

"I'LL KILL HIM!" Sanji exploded in fiery rage, unknowingly conveying the very same anger Luffy felt. Faced with such intense ire, Foxy wisely retreated to his side of the field, lest one of the Mugiwara's unwisely attempt to end his life then and there.

_Yikes!_

"How much longer is he going to bark?" Naruto snarled, his hooded eyes balefully regarding the cackling captain in the distance. "It's pissing me off."

"Dunno." Zoro grumbled, a lone hand straying towards Wado. "I wanna cut him up."

Sanji growled in own agreement, exhaling an angry plume of smoke from his cigarette. "It'd be better to fillet him."

"Nah, he'd taste nasty."

Ultimately it was Nico Robin who conveyed her desired to end Foxy. "Perhaps we should break his back and throw him overboard?" The look in her eyes mirrored that of her comrades, for a terrifying second it looked as though the demonic quarter were actually thinking of going through with it!

"Scary~!" Usopp wailed! Sure, he was angry too, but he didn't want to _murder_ the man! Apparently Naruto and the others did. Nami alone seemed to be the voice of reason amongst them.

"Now now, we can't kill him...

"See? Nami's right, we can't just go around killing people we don't like-

_...at least not until we rob him blind!"_

"Namithatsevernworse!" he gushed out!

The ancient weapon hissed out a laugh at that, his eyes flashing a danderous, deadly red.

"So, Luffy...when this is over, can we kick this guy's ass or what?"

Luffy was actually tempted to grant that request! He knew from experience that Foxy's Noro Noro Beams wouldn't be able to reach either Zoro or blond before they cut him into tiny pieces. But, no, he wasn't yet willing to start a slaughter just because of a little foul play. Pirates did cheat, after all. Didn't mean he had to like it, though!

"Let's just wait." he sighed at last, struggling to reign his temper in.

"We'll just see about that...

Naruto's left eye twitched; an imperceptible motion out of the corner of his gaze. This Foxy fellow was seriously beginning to grate on his nerves; as if that weren't enough, this whole Davy Back business was proving to be a major thorn in his side. Cheating aside, he found the idea of losing nakama to be galling. These were his friends and family; Chopper had already been taken! Now it was up to him, Zoro, and Sanji to avenge them and their defeat in this so-called ball game.

"Hey, no weapons." the referee called out to Zoro, the swordsman reluctantly relinquishing his blades only moments later. Nothing was said to Naurto. Nami almost squeaked out a warning when she saw those gleam in the hybrid's eye, his smile almost beatific in comparison. No weapons? But then, the Foxy Pirates didn't know about Naruto...what he really was. She on the other hand had been the only one to see just what the blonde was truly capable of when enraged. None of the other Strawhats-save perhaps Conis-knew the truth; none of others recognized the sleeping giant amongst them.

"Nami-san...

The navigator stroked their scout's wings and noodded in silent agreement. With Chopper taken, Naruto's temper was at an all-time high. He valued his friends and comrades dearly-taking one of them away was akin to tearing off a piece of his own flesh. One look at those baleful red eyes told her _exactly _what would happen to the Foxy Team in this round, cheating or no. Honestly, she almost felt sorry for them. _Almost_ but not enough to give the enemy any forewarning.

_'Give 'em hell, Naruto-kun..._

"Say," the blond began a little too amicably for her liking, "Is violence allowed?"

"So long as its not against the referee!"

"In that case, whaddya say we make a little wager?"

"Hmm?" _That _got Foxy's attention. "And what wager might that be?"

"If I win this in less than ten seconds, you give us your entire crew."

"What?! No! Absolutely not!"

"But if I don't...you get _our_ entire crew."

There was a silence as his words rippled over the rest of the Strawhats.

_"WHAT?!"_

"Fefefefe," the Noro Noro man laughed. "And why would I possibly agree to those terms?"

"See that island over yonder?" Naruto's reply was to point to an open expanse of water. All eyes turned toward the sea, empty save for the Merry Go and the Sexy Foxy. What island, they wondered? There was nothing out there but their own vessels, surely he knew that? Foxy frowned.

"What? I don't see any-

_BA-DOOM!_

The earth itself seemed to tremble beneath their feet, and suddenly there it was, a slab of earth, mountainous and wide. Naruto stretched his arm out to it and suddenly there was _life._ Plants and flora blosssomed from within that desolate slab of hot soil, fruit-bearing trees sprouting in the blink of an eye. The blond waved his arm again and the lovely ambivalence continued with bloom, grass growing from the desolate and expanding earth until Within a matter of moments, a medium island had formed adjacent to them, made only slightly smaller than Long Ring. Birds had even flown down to take roost on some of the trees!

"W-W-What did you do?!"

Naruto laughed.

_"That_ island." his tone veritably oozed satisfaction. "Just imagine, having your own fleet of bases, each capable of sustaining life. People. You'd never have to worry about dealing with the Navy ever again. So, whaddya say? Do we have a deal?"

Porsche didn't like the look in his eye; it was the same one her captain wore whenever he was up to something. What was this, a trick?

"Oyabin, maybe we should think about this-

_"Yes!"_ Foxy's roar drowned out her caution. "I accept these terms!" This was obviously weighed in his favor! Even if the man was a logia, there was no way he could win the Groggy Ring in less than ten seconds! No one could do such a thing! A pity he was so _stupid_, willing to gamble his nakama on something so frivolous! Little did the fool know that he was being fooled. His

"Sucker." Naruto whispered; Foxy's greed had already done him in. The man just didn't know it yet.

"Naruto-san, that's reckless!" Conis chastised him as he reached the group. "You can't gamble the entire crew!"

"Sure I can, Conis-chan." he returned cheerily, reaching down to ruffle the younger girl's hair, unaware of Robin's killer intent. "Long as I got the captain's permission. Right, senchou?"

"Can you do it?" Luffy asked when he turned towards him. He alone hadn't protested; he might have the density of a rock at times, but even _he_ knew a plan when he saw one. Narut

"Puh-lease, have you forgotten who you're talking to?" Naruto grinned a ghastly grimace, exposing his razor-sharp canine teeth. "Unlike that blockhead, I've got a clear goal ahead. It'll be over before he knows what hit him." After a long and unusually thoughtful moment, Luffy nodded. He agreed! Perhaps, had this been a fair game, he would have refused Naruto's offer. Besides-he didn't like cheaters! If Naruto could end this within a single round, that much the better!

"Yosh, go out there and win!"

"Will do, cap'in." Naruto retorted merrily as he walked towards the ring.

"W-Wait!" Conis burst out before Robin could speak, suddenly darting forwards. Her lips graced his whiskered cheek for just a heartbeat, lingering there a tad too long.

"For good luck," the angel murmurred, flushing heatedly before darting away.

"I...uh...thanks, I guess."

Shrugging, Naruto continued onwards.

Robin followed him a moment later, nearly choking on her anger. It was already bad enough that he'd taken to these random acts of kindness toward Conis, but now he was _touching her? _Letting her kiss him for crying out loud?!Unacceptable! She'd never really thought of herself as the jealous type until this very moment. Not until her hand closed around his shoulder-bodily wrenching him to a halt. To his credit, her lover didn't lash out at her in recompense for her temerity. He merely paused, regarding her with a curious eye.

"Something you wanted?"

_...away."_

"Huh?"

"I said stay away from Conis." she found herself tripping over the words, her face becoming heated as she struggled to get them out. "She keeps finding excuses to touch you and I don't like it. And I certainly don't like the idea of you risking the crew just because Foxy insulted her!"

There was a silence.

"The hell?" the blond paused, frowning at her. "I'm doing this for your sake as much as hers."

"Then stop touching her!" the declaration came out with more force than she intended. "What's wrong with you?!"

_"What's wrong with me?" _he drew back, scowling. "What's wrong with _you?_ Ya've been acting all kinds of wierd ever since we left Skypiea."

Robin stubbornly clamped her jaw shut; not trusting herself to speak. She'd knew Naruto would say something or later from the outset of her self-imposed silence, unable to tolerate the quiet between them. The blonde was the sort that craved contact with those around him, and without it, he tended to despair. Couldn't he see how difficult, this was for her? How fragile she felt in this instant? Sex had been something of a means to an end for her in the past, merely another method to survive, but with him everything was upside down. Here was someone from her past, someone for whom she _cared _and he was breaking her _heart. _It would be so easy for her to tell him how she felt, but she couldn't. Just couldn't. They were lovers now, yes, but the fear of becoming something more-of rejection-was too much for her to bear.

"Look, whatever I did, I'm sorry." Naruto sighed at last, pushing a hand through his hair. "But can this wait? I just want to be off this god-forsaken island; we can talk after that." He reached gently out to cup her cheek but she jerked aside with a hiss, unable to banish the image of Conis's kiss from her head. It would have been a simple thing to apologize and right her wrong, yet for some reason, Nico Robin was feeling petty. Not like her usual self at all, she realized. Lately she'd been overly emotional, ill, and unable to focus properly. And then there had been the strange morning sickness she'd been experiencing for the last week...

Robin froze, the world crawling to a halt around her. Oh no. No no no no no. That couldn't be it. It just couldn't.

"Naruto, I-

"Fine."

He flinched, stung not just by her tone but by her earlier actions; too late, Robin realized she wasn't the only fragile one in the crew. "We'll talk later."

Now it was Robin's turn to flinch.

"Fine!"

**_"FINE!"_**

He stalked off before she could tell him just how sorry she really was.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, YOU SHITTY BASTARD?!" Sanji roared when the whiskered warrior approached the field. "I won't let you endanger Nami-swan!" Naruto growled.

"OI." He lowed, denting the squabbling cook with a fist. "Shut. Up. Now. You're just gonna have to trust me on this." He beckoned his fellow blond forward, alongside Zoro. "Now listen. This is what we're going to do." A plan was outlined, and despite the intense ire Sanji felt for his fellow man, he couldn't help but admit that this strategy was sound. It certainly sounded as though it could be done in less than ten seconds-so long as the weapon played his part.

"Alright," he begrudged, slipping on the ballman hat. "But if we lose this, its your ass!"

"Hai hai, sempai."

"Here they come." Zoro grunted, gesturing to the enemy team. Jeez, that one guy was big! But it didn't matter. Naruto's plan was foolproof. He had every ounce of faith in his apprentice.

"Here we go...

Hamburg, Pickles, and Big Pan balked at the idea, gawping as the trio lined up to face them. Were they really so foolish as to gamle their crew on one round? This was unheard of! That aside why was Foxy willing to risk _their _nakama for such a reason? Sure the reward was great, but the risk...surely it was too high?

"BEGIN!"

Naruto surged forward in a burst of motion, earthen spikes sprouting from either boot, propelling him forward at an insane rate of speed. Before either of the cheaters could think to block him, Zoro and Sanji were upon them, heel and wrist sending Hamburg and Pickles sprawling in either direction. Then Naruto was past them; leaping upright onto Sanji's waiting leg. "Shoot!" With a roare the cook propelled his fellow blond forward an into the air, crossing the fields with the greatest of ease. All that remained was Big Pan; the sluggish old wotan barely had time to comprehend the brutalization of his comrades before he realized one of the enemy was rocketing towards him.

Naruto went up, up, _up_ into the air, soaring through the sky in a single bound. Pan blinked, wondering how the little man had moved so fast_-pain! _The massive man yelped as an angry red hand sank its grisly claws into his scalp, grasping the massive wotan by the head. Grunting from the exertion demanded of them, Naruto _pulled._

_"Doton: Keijūgan!** "(Earth Style: Light-weight Rock Technique)**_

Muscles bulged, hair tore from the giant's bloodied scalp _but still_ Naruto moved, ripping the wotan free from the earth, then free from the ring itself. Finding himself suddenly airborne the larg man tried to reach up and grab his tormentor, only to find his hands bleeding from a dozen puncture wounds, pierces by the hardened spikes of earth sprouting from his body. Evidently this little flea wouldn't be removed so easily he realized, to his great dismay, he was still falling, pitching towards the goal...

"W-W-W-What?!" the announcer's voice rang out from the sky, tiny to his massive ears. "Pickles and Hamburg are down and now Big Pan is airborne! No! He's flying! All in less than five seconds!"

"GO!" Zoro roared! "Make it!"

Miles below and on the ground, Foxy sweatdropped; he was suddenly regretting that decision of his...

"Yosh!" Usopp cackled as he realized what was about to happen, simultaneously slinging an arm around Luffy's shoulder and gesturing to the massive crowd at their backs. "Everybody count! Six!"

"You heard him, count!" Nami barked at them.

"Seven!"

Naruto snarled and pressed down on the head of his still-falling prey._ "Doton: Kajūgan!" **(Earth Style: Aggravated Rock Technique) **_His weight increased tenfold, Big Pan sank like a stone-balled head plummeting in a heap towards the goal.

"Eight!"

_"NIIIINE!"_ Naruto's cry rang out as he slammed Big Pan down, smashing his cranium against the post with devastating force. The island itself split from the savage slam, cracking open the giant's skull as though it were nothing more than a wide watermelon. In that instant the wotan almost wished for death. Anything would'v been better than this pain! He would live through it but always look back on this day with pain and regret with the knowledge that he'd not only failed his captain, but his crew...

_"Uzumaki Naruto has done it! He has won it all, folks! The Foxy Team has been defeated in an unanimous victory!"_

For a long moment the referee considered not blowing his whistle; a scathing glare from Nico Robin made him reconsider! When faced with disfigurement or shame, he'd much rather suffer the latter! Bracing himself he set both lips and blew until he was read in the face.

_Tweeeeeet!_

"And there's the whistle, ladies and gentlemen! It's all over!"

"Win!" the blond flashed a peace sign at everyone.

"Well, at least he's consistent." Sanji sighed, heaving a relieved breath.

Zoro's only response was to smirk; the kid had done good, no, better than anyone had expected. Victory was theirs!

"Naruto-san!" The blond grunted in surprise as Conis glommed him; her arms flung round his neck, body pressed flush against him. There it was again-that faint spike of killer intent from Robin. What was _that_ about? It was just a hug! He almost turned to look at her, but memory of their earlier arguement held him fast. Damnit, if she had a problem then she should just tell him! He didn't know how to puzzle these things out! He tried to think it out, but that very thought was lost in the instant that Usopp and Luffy declared "Group Hug!" happily tackling him and Conis alongside the now-freed Chopper.

Nami sighed, teeth clicking together with a loud finality as she oversaw the celebration. "That baka, worrying us over nothing...

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed from his place atop the Mugiwara dogpile; he'd never doubted their strategist, not even for a moment! Naruto really was a genius! Not only was Chopper free, and did they now have a crew of nakama to choose from, but they didn't have to deal with that dumb split-head anymore! Speaking of which!

Grinning, he turned his gaze upon Foxy. "You know what that means...

* * *

><p>"You tricked me!" Foxy roared in disbelief, practically tear-stricken as his jolly roger was taken down. "I refuse to accept this!" In another realm, Luffy might've been merciful enough to merely take their mark and draw them a new one. But not in this one. He wasn't feeling particularly merficul after the older man's insult against their honorary Scout, Conis, threatening to make her one of his concubines and whatnot. A pirate like that didn't deserve to sail the Grand Line or any other sea for that matter!<p>

"Gotta honor the rules, remember?" Sanji replied impishly, watching as Chopper and Conis made short work of removing the great black flag. "Don't be a sore loser."

Foxy would have none of it!

"I won't stand for it!" he roared, fling up his arms! "Noro Noro Bea_uaeargh!_

"Damn that felt good." Naruto laughed out as he whispered into existence behind Foxy, lowering his still steaming hand. "Besides, There's no rule to say we can't trick _you_, and you _did _agree, red nose...

Foxy faltered, wounded more by those very words than the actual blow.

"R-Red nose...

"Still," Zoro drawled, "There's way too many people here to fit on the Going Merry." And it was true, Foxy had accumulated many crew members thanks to scheming Davy Back fights, far too many to ever accomodate themselves aboard their tiny ship.

"Ah, we'll just follow you guys in the Sexy Foxy." One of Foxy's former crewmen replied.

"Oi, the Sexy Foxy is my ship!" Foxy wailed. "You can't take her!"

"Oh yes we can! What're you going to do, _former-_oyabin? Fight us over her?"

Foxy grumbled morosely as he, Pesche and Hamburg climbed into a rickety raft, the only other way off this island.

"I won't forgive you for this, Mugiwara!"

Luffy scowled and began to swing his right arm in windup.

"Gomu Gomu no...

"Gah! I'm going! I'm going...!"

The rubberman didn't cease his windup until well after the flimsy craft was out of sight.

"So," Naruto began wearily. "Looks like we got a bunch of fresh new faces."

"Not really." Zoro's smile was telling.

"Wha-

_"Dismissed!"_

Naruto face-palmed so hard the earth itself cracked. He should've expected this! They had a chance to increase their allies tenfold-to make their own mark on the world, and their senchou had just thrown it away! Little did he know that their chance to make a _mark _would be coming, far sooner than he'd expected...

_"Oyabin!"_

Usopp and Luffy burst out into hysterics as the crw promptly took off after their former leader in the Sexy Foxy. Neither really cared, they were far too focused their newfound freedom, the prospect of a new adventure just waiting for them on the horizon.

"Hey, looks like they missed one." Sanji pointed out, interrupting their small celebration.

"Ah?" Luffy paused, intrigued. "Hey, you're right! Wonder why he stayed behind...

Remarkably, one of Foxy's crewmates remained, lingering only a few yards away. His mask was gone, tossed aside to expose his visage...a face Naruto found himself oddly drawn to. Almost in_...recognition?_ Naruto frowned at him, this dark-haired man-said hair bound back in an eerily familiar ponytail. Then there was that scar running diagnol across his nose. Odd? Why did he feel as thoug he remembered him? Who was this guy? Why did this fellow look so familiar? So many questions whispered through his mind, complicated even further when the older man started towards him.

Naruto bristled, prepared for anything. Did this man want revenge? Was that why he'd remained? He barely registered Robin's misonceived gasp behind him; he was too busy preparing himself for an attack, physical or otherwise, to even consider that this man might not be a threat.

"You're alive." he whispered, his eyes wide with disbelief. "I thought I recognized you after all this time, but-

"Ha?"

Naruto bristled as strong arms enfolded him, binding his body with surprising strength.

"What the hell man?! Lemme go!"

The stranger did so swiftly, almost startled by the blonde's violent reaction.

"What's the matter, Naruto?"

"Don't act like you know me! I've never seen you before in my life! Now back off!" The blond hissed a warning; who was this man, that embraced him so casually?

"What," the brunette blinked. "You don't remember? Its me, Iruka!"

Naruto frowned.

_"Who?"_

* * *

><p>Once Naruto had finally regained his bearings after that shock, things quickly degenerated into the kind of celebration that could only be had amongst the Strawhat Crew. They'd gained a new nakama! And Naruto knew him! Even better! It had taken some telling on the latter's part but he'd eventually accepted who the man was and joined in the festivities themselves.<p>

"Yosh, drink up!" Luffy bellowed heartily, urging a mug into Iruka's hand. "To our new crewmate!"

Iruka regarded the glass warily.

"I'm not sure I should...

"Ah, c'mon!" Usopp chorused a laugh of his own. "We're all men here!"

"OI!" Nami snapped, glowering from the helm.

"Drink~!" Chopper chirruped happily, ignoring their navigator's shout.

As for Robin, there was another, albeit less known, reason to celebrate. Iruka was -had been- one of the scholars of Ohara, one of the few folks that could read the Poneglyphs alongside her and Naruto. Little more than a scribe at the time of the attack, she was nevertheless pleased to learn that another Oharan had survived the purge of the Buster Call. He had been quite kind to her and Naruto back in the day even taught them a few ways in which to defend themselves from the children that bullied them.

As to how he had ended up with the Foxy Pirates in the first place however, that was another tale, one the scar on his nose bore telling unto. Having barely escaped the Buster Call with his life, left clinging to a piece of driftwood, the older man had been rescued by a band of roving pirates; a long since forgotten crew that had the misfortune of accepting and subsuquently losing a Davy Back fight to the Foxy Pirates. And there he had remained, forced to swear loyalty to the rechd little man until Luffy and Naruto's little caper a few hours ago.

Luffy already considered the man a nakama, though Iruka professed to being a terrible pirate; not in the sense of wrongdoing, but in the fact that he was simply too nice a person. Probably why his crew hadn't tried to win him back from Foxy in the first place. He did have some skill in hand to hand combat, enough to get by and enough to teach, but little else. More and more, her past was rearing its head, first in Naruto, and now in Iruka, their old teacher.

"Robin?"

The archaelogist bristled as a soft voice called her name; she knew at once who it was and it took everything she had to smile. Only one person spoke so softly, so demure in their words. She barely turned her head to regard them as they emerged from the galley, looking appropriately nervous as always.

"What is it, Conis-san?"

The angel visibly faltered beneath her gaze, painfully aware that the courtesy was only skin deep.

"Ano...is something bothering you?" she asked at last. "You seem...anxious lately." Kami bless her heart for trying, but Robin still didn't like her. Her outlook was forever poisoned because of the girl's feelings towards a certain blonde-her blonde!-and until things were properly resolved, any other niceties were a waste of time in her mind. She knew Naruto had a tendency to love everyone in equal measures but she wasn't willing to let her whiskered warrior have his way in this, not unless he cared for them _equally._ Perhaps not even then. Their arguement during the Davy Back Fight had formed a wall between the two of them and unless one of them broke out a hammer and started chipping away at it, things would never be the same. But she daren't tell the girl that.

"No, its nothing."

Conis looked as though she might say more-nay, she wanted to. But she didn't.

"Alright then...

Nico Robin closed her eyes, a clear sign that their discussion was over. Oddly enough, this inspired courage in the Skypiean.

"Actually, I wanted to say something."

"Ara?"

A frown, her dark eyes fluttering open once more to regard their scout. "And what might that be?"

Conis turned her head, both girls regarding the festivities below them on the deck. At length, she spoke.

"Until recently, I thought every pirate was the same as Luffy-san and Naruto-kun." she murmurred quietly, her pale cheeks dusted a pretty pink in the setting sun. "After meeting Foxy...I realize that's not the case. You people have been so kind to me," her hand lifted to touch her breast, "And I've done so little to repay you, any of you. I was useless in the Davy Back Fight-not just to Naruto-kun but to the crew as well. If I'm going to be a part of this family, then I want to do my part as well." she reaffirmed with a nod, clenching that hand into a fist. "And speaking of Naruto-kun, I know the two of you have something special, but...

Her countenance darkened every so slightly, those bright, light eyes becoming like chips of diamond; in that instant Robin felt a tingle of tension travel between the two of them.

"I'm not giving up, either."

"Conis~chwan!" Sanji swan-songed from below, directing his efforts to one of the two unclaimed woman onboard, "I made a parfait for youuuuuu!"

"Hai, I'm coming!" just like that the implied challenge was gone, her face bright and cheery once more.

Robin sighed at the angel's passing. If it weren't for her Burn Bazooka and flight abilities, she'd often wonder why they even kept the girl around at all. She was starting to get some steel in her spine though. That didn't bode well for Naruto's future, she mused. Events were coming to a head, she could just feel it in the air. In the future...

Now she found herself thinking towards _her_ future. Unbidden, her hand dropped to her stomach, cradling it protectively. She hoped and prayed every hour that her worst fears weren't true; that she'd caught a stomach bug or something. The alternative was as terrifying as it was unnacceptable. She wasn't fit to be a mother, let alone raise a child. But if this wasn't some random illness and her suspicions proved true...

_How am I going to tell him?_

She'd soon find out...

* * *

><p>"Holy shit!"<p>

Naruto whistled softly as he beheld the metropolis that was Water 7. As the name implied it was a watery wonderland, a massive marvel that couldn't be described with words alone. You had to see it to believe it. Luffy seemed to share their strategist's opinion on that, his eyes glinting like gold as he too beheld their destination.

"Sugoiiii~!"

The rest of the crew stood in agreement.

"That's awesome!"

"No wonder the Sea Train docks here!"

After a close call with that very something, they'd been directed here, hopping to find a shipwright. Docking at the faroff coast they disembarked one by one eager to sell off their gold and repair the Merry Go, undo the damage both time and the sea had wrought to their precious vessel. Even Iruka, who had seemed reluctant to rejoin the pirate life, appeared chipper in the face of their new arrival. Robin was the last to depart, leaving the time-honored task of guarding the ship to him.

"I'll send an Earth Clone with you." Naruto offered genially. The clones weren't good for much beyond self-defense and preservation; besides, he wasn't ready to speak with Robin face to face. Not yet. She accepted his offer quietly, refusing to look him in the eye as she disembarked. For a fleeting moment, he considered going after her. But his anger won out in the end, and he didn't.

_That_ was when everything went to hell.

* * *

><p><em>"CP9."<em>

Naruto's earth clone froze, all control of its body slipping away from it in an instant. Thoughts shut down, bloody images flickering through his mind. As if Robin's own haunted visage weren't enough, there it was; that word. Little did he know that his amnesia had more to do with than just his augmented body; his mind broken through hours of torment he could no longer remember.

CP9 was one of the control words. The word that, should all else fail, would momentarily make him a mindless weapon of the World Government. Known only to the highest officials, it was not a word to be used lightly, it had a one time use before the subject's brain course-corrected as it had been programed. In short it did little more than just shut his brain down for a handful of seconds thereby allowing the other phrases to be administered as the government saw fit. For example "Code Yellow" could be used to cause cardiac arrest, and "Would You Kindly," well, that went without saying...

Unfortunately, Blueno had failed to calculate one thing. Made a miscalculation. Two, actually. The first being that this wasn't the genuine article. The second was that those fateful words had been muffled by the mask he wore, instead of CP9, the words came out sounding like Cee-pee-_niiine_. Not much of a difference, but just the lag between mouth and mask was just enough to allow Naruto to retain a glimmer of awareness. That was all it took.

"ORA!"

Blueno never saw the blow that killed him; but he certainly felt it. One moment he'd been walking away from the pair in severe silence-the next-clenched knuckles blew his visage into the wall. An unrecognizeable mass of concrete greeted his shrouded facade, mangling his face into a warped mess of tissue and bone. The mask he'd been wearing shattered like so much glass, his eyes swelling shut almost immediately upon impact with the unyielding brick and shards of porcelain-he hadn't even had the chance to harden his body. Perhaps that was a mercy.

Because he most certainly felt the iron hands lock around his neck before it snapped like a twig.

Robin stared aghast as the earth clone crumbled, reduced to so much soil. Panic filled her every pore.

"It's not safe for them...

* * *

><p>Miles away, Naruto's eyes snapped open, regarding the altercation with shock and horror.<p>

"Robin...

* * *

><p><em>(Several hours later)<em>

Pluton crashed down into Enies Lobby like a falling meteor; its abrupt arrival scattering man and marine alike. Stone shattered against its hardened boots and bone broke beneath its fists, those deadly clawed gauntlets scraping into the walls with sinister intents. Baleful red eyes surveyed those arrayed against it and found them wanting, damning each and every one of them unworthy of anything short of death. Steam wafted through its jaws, a lone word snaking through the iron mask after what felt like an eternity, snarled into open air:

**"Robin."**

Yes, it felt like an eternity to Pluton, but in reality, only a few hours had passed since they'd first docked at Water Seven. So much had occurred between now and then, the attack on Usopp, pilfering of the money, their raid on the Franky House, the subsuquent dissapearance of Nico Robin. Usopp's challenge against Luffy, the mourning of their crew when said duel ended in Luffy's favor. Then came the attack on the Galley La building, framing them for a crime they hadn't committed. And Robin. Robin. She'd left him. Robin was gone. Lost to him. Taken from him! _STOLEN FROM HIM!_

Now here it was, the rage of its host having unlocked it once more.

_**"ROBIN."**_

The ancient weapon snarled, its energies building, growing with each passing second. Its first awakening had been flawed, tempered only by the blonde's wrath or lack theroef. Now that the archaelogist had once more departed from his life, perhaps for good this time, his fury knew no bounds. It recognized that Luffy and the others were close behind, about to breach the gate with the Sea Train. It didn't care. Pluton would spare only those who weren't responsible for Robin's abscence. And in the pit of the blackened device that served as its heart, the superweapon instinctively knew its target.

Ennies Lobby. The entire island. All would burn.

Burn.

Sparks surged up and done its slender spine, the powers of Enel absorbed and stored within-unable to be wielded before-now unleashed in all their heavenly glory. Soldiers screamed and drew back from him, unsure of what to make of this monstrosity, this sudden upswing in energy. But they knew their duty, and dereliction of said duty was the furthest thing from their minds. They did not realize their own peril when faced with such a menace; failed to recognize the danger when they saw it.

"A-Attack!"

That lone word set off the slaughter.

_**"ROOOOOOOOOBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!"**_

Pluton _wailed_, and Enies Lobby exploded in a shower of blood, thousands upon thousands of bodies obliterated in the blink of an eye. Its scream was but a precursor to the slaughter; its movements so sudden, so rapid, the naked eye couldn't even comprehend them. Five thousand of the the finest soldiers the marines had to offer, of the ten thousand soldiers arrayed against it...perished in that instant. Pluton had harnessed an energy so powerful that heaven itself trembled, in this moment it was both heaven and earth; the unrivalled defense of the Iwa Iwa no mi encompassed by the incredible offense of the Goro Gor no mi. It was a being of energy pure and plain, a form devoted to one purpose and one purpose only.

Destruction.

* * *

><p>Nami was going to be sick.<p>

All around them lay bodies, broken and eviscerated, torn to pieces stretching as far as the eye could see. In some cases there were even charred skeletons, burned bodies piled high and left to rot. A great swathe of all but incomparable destruction lay before then, and there could be no denying who had wrought this terror. One glance at the crew said it all; they knew who was responsible, why he had done it, and why he wouldn't be the one to stop, so long as a single navy soldier still stood on these grounds.

Conis clutched her knees, suddenly pale. Iruka gulped.

"Naruto did this...?" Chopper squeaked.

Sogeking-Usopp!-said nothing, his mask hiding its owner's terrified expression. Sanji's only expression was to spit out his cigarrette. Even Zoro had been stunned into silence.

Luffy grimaced, he simply charged on ahead.

"Let's go!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>"Robin...<strong>_

The gate loomed before it now, barring the way. Pluton said nothing. No words were needed. This door barred it from Robin. So...it had to go. A single blow shattered the stone like so much glass, shards of masonry flying in every directions obliterating marines and World Government personnel in equal measure. Both were crushed beneath the falling mounds of the gateway, others obliterated by boot or blow, ground to smears of gristle and gore amidst the streets until they were no more.

Three thousand more died before it reached the main plaza. Another thousand by the time it reached the gate with those insufferable giants. Weak. Worthless. Pluton didn't even bother to kill them; it simply swept the massive mean off their feet and threw them back into the two. The sounds of voices could be heard from that direction; Luffy and the others had landed. Pluton didn't care. There was only forward. Only the ones who'd caused it such despair. They were waiting up ahead, and so ahead it went.

Only a thousand soldies remained between it and its goal. They tried to slow Pluton down. They died. Slowly. Painfully. Some where tossed into the falls, others ground underfoot; the lucky one's were simply obliterated by savage swathes of lightning; the unlucky smothered by the earth herself. And still Pluton advanced, wailing like a long lost child:

_**"ROOOOOOOOOBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!"**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>"ROOOOOOOOOBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!"<strong>_

Nico Robin started violently, cringing as the windows disintegrated in a hail of glass, showering her and Spandam with debris; the sheer decibel's of that scream threatening to shatter her very bonds in turn. Something was coming for her. Something far worse than anything the so-called Director had ever faced. She could see it in his eyes, the way that disgusting little man glanced this way and that, searching for the source, of those terrifying calls. It was coming here, she realized. This dread power in the air, the power she'd felt once before in Skypiea, just before blacking out. Pluton.

Only Rob Lucci of the CP9 remained unfazed at the prospect of facing such a fore, through sheer arrogance our determination remained to be seen. At least his comrades had the werewithall to appear worried by Pluton and the dark powers it possessed. No, not just Pluton.

Naruto.

_'No!'_ she silently urged at the blond, though she couldn't yet see him from where she lay. _'Don't come up here, you fool! You'll be killed! I'm doing this for your sake!'_

Beside her, Franky started as well.

"Oi oi, what's going on out there?!"

As if to answer that very question, the Den Den Mushi began to ring.

"Director!"

"Eh?! What's going on down there!"

"He's wiping us out sir!" the small squeaked! "He's killed nearly nine thousand of our very best_-gyargh!"_

"What are you waiting for?!" he demaned of Lucci and the others! "Get down there and eliminate the threat!"

"That won't be necessary."

Everyone froze, almost literally, as a melancholy frost filled the room. All eyes turned toward his towering form, having arisen seemingly out of nowhere, when in reality, it had simply been there all along. Admiral Aokiji said nothing for a long instant, reaching one limber hand up to scratch at a small spot just above his left eye

"I'll take care of him myself...

* * *

><p><em><strong>"Robin."<strong>_ the destroyer warbled softly, crimson eyes peering towards the tower. _**"Roooooobiiiiiin."** _That was where they had taken her. It knew. It didn't know how, but somehow, it just knew. Part of it longed to just reach up and obliterate it, along with all inside, but it wasn't willing to risk Robin's safety. It started forwad, crushing the skull of the last soldier left in its wake. No more grunts to slow it down now. Clawed hands dug a space into the wall, dragging itself upright. It would reach its beloved, all it had to do was climb up and

Ice?

Pluton yowled in surprise as an icy tendril closed around its heel and yanked it back to the ground. Its large body slammed into the stone, spraying smoke and shards of debris in nearly every direction.

"Arararara," a cool voice snaked out from within the now chilly mist. "You've really lost it, haven't you? Would you kindly cut that out and _deactivate?"_

The weapon snarled wordlessly, steam spitting from its jaws as it clamored to its feet. It knew that voice!

A frown as the weapon failed to heed his command. "I said_ deactivate."_

Pluton roared forward and punched Aokiji in the face. Hard. The marine admiral didn't even have time to raise his guards, the blow simply blowed right through his ice sabre to obliterate his nose, snapping the cartilege like it were a harmless twing. He felt some of his power being leeched away, his hand instinctively snapped up to block when the hyperweapon screamed again. The sound shattered his icy body, leaving chunks of dried ice to haphazardly fr

"DEACTIVATE!"

Pluton hissed as control was finally denied and stripped away, _Hard Contact_ removed as its host's mind surged back to the fore. What?! No! Impossible! Blue eyes surfaced where there had been only red, regarding the newcomer balefully. A low hiss warbled from returning lips, the grisly helm parting to expose the face of Uzumaki Naruto once more, revealing to him his long lost foe:

"Aokiji!"

"Been awhile, kid." the icy admiral drawled. "If you're here for Nico Robin...

Naruto gulped. "Then I'll have to go through you, am I right?"

"Somethine like that, yeah. Would you kindly just give up?"

"Like hell!"

Kuzan frowned. He and had to give the boy credit; despite losing half his strength, the boy was still able to resist the commands implanted in his subconcsious, perhaps by sheer force of will. Instead of surrendering, he simply summoned up a _Lanza del Relampago_ and readied himself to fight.

"Gladly!"

"Eh?! Naruto?!"

The blond fought the urge to turn as Nami's voice piqued over his shoulder; they'd finally caught up to him after all. Aokji bore no such hesitation; a wave of icy death stemmed forward from his fingers to encompass all but Naruto, effectively walling the two combatants off from any aid whatsoever.

"Ice Wall!"

_"Chibaku Tensei!"_ Naruto's reply was swift and just as -if not moreso-moving, at his commands earth itself seemed to lurch upwards in response to the well of gravity he flung into the heavens, shafts and shards of the floor upon which the Strawhats stood now lurching up towards the tower; well away from the icy prison the marine admiral had enacted. Those fragments of mother earth rocked upwards, hurtling them towards a fight that would make the World itself tremble with fear, quivering as they watched a flag burn.

_"GO!"_

* * *

><p>Robin heard the battle raging down below and realized the inevitable. There was nothing more she could do; no use in denying it any longer.<p>

"I want to live," she whispered softly.

"Ah?" Franky frowned. "Did you say something.

The archaelogist ignored him.

"I want to live...

* * *

><p>"That woman is a stain on the world!" Aokiji growled, his normally calm demeanor evaporating as he wiped a trickle of blood away from his mouth. "Once she passes through the Gates of Justice, neither you, Mugiwara or anyone else will be able to save her!" Naruto snarled in return, his eyes flashing an unflinching crimson. Enies Lobby was crumbling around them, yet still they fought. Ice and Earth, life and death, eternally opposing one another, forever in conflict.<p>

"I will save her, definitely!" Naruto swore as they clashed again, his spine bending backwards at an awkward angle to avoid a briny hail of ice.

That earned him another frigid rebuke.

"Ice Block: Partisan!"

Naruto flung up an arm even as the icy attack formed and swarmed him, all but one of the deadly lances lodgng harmlessly in a wall of earth. The final spear sank firmly into his thigh, a pool of blood forming from the wound, biting deep into bone. Wincing, the blond ripped the shattered shaft out and cast it aside.

They'd fought long and hard the two of them; he had no way of knowing how the fate of his fellows. Luffy was fighting Lucci, of that much he was certain. But of the others, he knew not. A Buster Call had been brought down on the island but still everyone fought on, and so too, must he.

"Aaaaaah, this really isn't something I wanted to use," he drawled. "But you're leaving me no choice here! I can't use _Chibaku Tensei_ twice; not without destroying everything." Blue eyes drifted shut, veins bulging with and on his forehead, crimson lines standing starkly against his tan skin." I am one with the earth;" he began softly. "I am she, and she, is me, all the land, and all its creatures of earth and sea." A strange power began to swirl around him then, invisible eddies of energy swirling from the stone-from the earth-and into his body.

"What're you doing...?"

"And the earth is one with me!" Sapphire eyes burst open, only they were no longer sapphire. Golden. Yellow. Safrron. All these things and more, opening to expose slanted pupils, an eerie orange dusting covering his eyelids. When he moved, Aokiji barely saw it. One moment he'd been standing across from him, the next, an angry red slice stained his uniform. Even as he turned to face the blonde, another rent opened up upon his chest, weeping crimson.

"What is this?!"

"This?"

Naruto turned beside him, golden eyes furious.

This is the power of nature. The whole of life itself, rallied against you. This is...

_"Sage Mode!"_

Naruto darted forward, lance swinging. Instead of attacking, the admiral simply rasied an arm.

"Ice Ball!"

He barely made it three steps before the ice on the floor swarmed up to swallow him, encasing his body in a tight prison of ice. To his dismay the fires of his lance sputtered and died, dissipating before the sheer cold of the attack. Aokiji wearily lowered his arm, silently cringing at the effrot he'd just expended. Plenty of ice though he might have, he was beginning to run low on stamina. Dangerously low. If he hadn't caught the kid just now with that technique of his...

"It's...over." he gasped. "You did good, kid. Made me proud." He turned to walk away still slightly favoring his right leg. _Damn but the boy had learned hit hard._ As expected of his nephew. _His._ Not that lying Blackbeard and his malevolent machinations . Minato would be proud of the kid after such a effort, surely...

_Crack._

Kuzan froze. No...

Dreading what he might find there, he turned, one bruised eye staring over his shoulder, peering at Naruto's icy prison.

Sure enough, one could see the triny fracutres beginning to spread, growing larger and larger with each passing second. Impossible! He'd frozen the boy solid! There was just no way he could've come back from this in one piece! No way! The longer he watched the more he prayed it wasn't true, that fate wasn't doing this just to screw with him. No! It couldn't be! It just-

_BA-KRAM!_

The ice shattered with a deafening crash, exposing the battered blonde to the light of the world once again. His eyes bored bloody red daggers at the admiral, chest rising and falling hitching with uneven breath. Broken and bloodied though he might be, his sage mode exhausted, he still stood; woodenly, and without a care.

"C'mon kid, that's enough." Aokiji drawled. "You're gassed. Therere's no shame in calling it quits after all youve done."

If the blond heard him, he gave little indication. He saw only one face, heard only one voice, and it didn't belong to Aokiji. He could see her now, hear her now, desperately screaming those words. She was so close; the one person who mattered to him more than life itself, weeping and begging for him to get back up. A single name tore through the darkness shrouding his mind.

**"ROOOOOOOOOOOOBIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!"**

Naruto _screamed_, and the whole of the tower screamed with him; the walls and floors quaking fearfully at the sound of his voice. His arm snapped backwards, the jade fire of the _Lanza del Relampago_ erupting from his palm, only to shatter a second later. Shatter, as it _sheathed_ a fist, then his entire body. Veins bulged and burst in his arms, no longer the power of Pluton, but that of his very soul, his last ounce of strength dredged up from the darkest depths of his mind. An aura formed around him, assuming the likeness of a great bird, baring her wings to the sky, the intensity of her birth scalding the very stone beneath their feet.

Aokiji blanched and raised an arm to shield himself in the face of the overwhelming warmth, this phoenix-like rebirth proved nothing short of miraculous. But this...what was this technique?! That wasn't a lance he was wielding, that was a full body cloak of sacred fire for kami's sake! If he got hit by something like that...

"Whoa now, that's a little too much!"

The superweapon wasn't listening. Images rippled through his minds, words and scenes of the past all coalescing into one. Unbidden, those fateful words resounded through his mind.

_"If you take in a dangerous woman like that, you'll soon come to regret it." _The CP9, mocking him.

A teary-eyed goodbye from Robin._ "It's over. We won't be seeing each other again."_

Rob Lucci's mockery._ "This is not something for people like you to get involved in."_

"_Robin intends to die for us!" _Nami and Conis's tears in the pourin rain.

Spandam's sneer._ "Are you guys for real?! Don't think you'll survive now that you've delcared war on the entire world!"_

_"I would chase that woman down to the ends of the earth to eliminate her!" _Aokiji avowed. _"She's a threat to everything we stand for!"_

And there, above them all...

_"I WANT TO LIVE!"_

Naruto snarled, his skin heating to a feverish pitch, his eyes boiling black.

_"Iwa Iwa no..._

* * *

><p>Luffy heard Naruto's scream; and a fire of a different sort surged within his veins. If that guy was still fighting...then why wasn't he?! Why the hell was he laying here when his crew was still fighting?! He was standing a second later, his body having moved almost before he even realized it.<p>

"I'm...not going down!"

Lucci started in surprise, dismayed to find the rubberman still standing. _Standing!_ Bloodied and beaten though he might be, Monkey D. Luffy simply refused to quit. Steam sizzled from his skin, the angry pink hue of his flesh confirming he'd entered the life-threatening and thrice hated Gear Second once more. It was this damned form that had done so much damage to him already but this...this defied imagination! How could he stand after taking that Rokuogan?! It just wasn't possible!

"You damned pirtate...!"

Luffy's only response was a growl; deep and animilistic.

_"Gomu Gomu no..._

* * *

><p>Naruto snappped fowards with a jolt of impossible speed, his entire body swarming with emerald flames, the stone searing at his passings. Aokiji hissed in <em>surprise<em> dark eyes widening as he realized the sheer amount of power behind that attack, even from this distance the incredible inferno was raising welts on his icy skin. He had no chance of dodging with a bum leg. Desperate he flung forth a wall of ice to keep the blond back-a wall of pure tundra miles tall and twice as thick.

His nephew punched right through it, the icy barrier shattering before his passage, not even slowing him in the slightest. Kuzan didn't even have time to brace himself. He could only gasp in surprise as Naruto's arm did the unthinkable, snapping backward and surging forwards at the speed of light, with a crackle of lightning. _Lightning_, the blue sparks lighting his eyes into an eerie light. Earth and Lightning combined with a dread white power he almost wished he didn't recognize. Oh lord, this was going to hurt-

Chest. Stomach. Kidney.

Aokiji gasped as the first of many flaming blows struck home, the flaming charge wreaking absolute havoc on his elemental inferiority.

_"Grand..._

* * *

><p>Luffy flung every fibe of his soul into the next attack, his rubberized fists becoming an invisible blur as they hurtled towards Lucci. The leopard-man tried to harden his skin with <em>Tekkai,<em> but it was no use; there were too many blows, each coming far too fast for the naked eye to comprehend. Lucci desperately tried to shield himself but to to no avail; hardened skin was meant only to block a single, monumental blow, not something of a massive magnitude like this; not this insanely rapid exchange of blows!

Within seconds he found his supposedly iron shell battered inward, strengthened hide shattered as blow after blow after _ungodly blow _smashed through his guard to strike at the tender muscle beneath. There were... so many of them. Too many! Far, far too many!

_"Jet..._

* * *

><p><strong><em>"METEOR!"<em>**

* * *

><p><strong><em>"GATLING!"<em>**

* * *

><p>Enies Lobby exploded.<p>

There could be no other word for it; Lucci and Aokiji had been struck in the same instant, the simultaneous attacks wreaking havoc on their already weakened bodies before plowing onwards into what little remained of the tower of justice itself, shearing through the supports. Two blurs rocked out of either end, one the broken form of Rob Lucci, the other that of the now gasping Kuzan. Stone crumbled to pieces before their very eyes, shards of masonry splintering in every direction. And there, avove it all, the announcement that shook the marines to their core, and strengthened the Strawhats anew:

_"Aokiji and Rob Lucci have been defeated!"_

"ROBIN!" Naruto's voice rang out then, as though from a great distance. There was a silence, dreadful in its intensity as the entire world held its breath.

And then.

And _then._

"I LOVE YOU!"

Nico Robin couldn't quite contain the tears that came to her eyes, her joy spilling over and onto her cheeks as she those fateful words reached her ear. Through the soliders that surrounded them, though the Buster Call that still raged around them, his words had finally reached her. Across many battles and time inmoriarum, when faced with an admiral and frozen hell itself...still he had prevailed.

_"I love you too..._

****A/N: Aaaaaand there you have it! Iruka is now included! With this, I've wrappd up the Davy Back and Enies Lobby arc up in a single, epic chapter! And is Robin really...?! IWouldn't be surprised, considering they've been going at it like rabbits over the last few chapters. But is that really the case? I look forward to hearing what ya'll think and I hope ya'lll enjoyed my take on it, I must've watched the episodes over and over again to eke out every last bit of inspiration and we finally see Luffy and Naruto pushed to their absolute limits at the end********. But all is not well in paradise and there are storm clouds on the horizon...****

****Hope I've kept everyone in character so far!****

**And with that, its back to bed for me and more painkillers to recover. Yay. Hope ya'll enjoyed the update! I sincerely look forward to your reviews on this chapter when I wake up! **

**So in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...review, would you kindly? (And of course, enjoy the preview! )**

_**(Preview)**_

_Naruto gawped at the poster thrust before his face._

_"My bounty is what...?"_


End file.
